BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

<> 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


SHIPAROBOOKIO 

YEOIDBOOKE  SHOPPE 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH J 


LOVE    IN    THE    BACKWOODS 

TWO  MORMONS  FROM  MUDDLETY 
ALFRED'S  WIFE 


BY 

LANGDON  ELWYN  MITCHELL       I  5?  fe  «£ 


ILLUSTRATED 
BY   GILBERT   GAUL 


NEW    YORK 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 

1897 


Copyright,  1896,  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS. 

All  rights  reserved. 


6AMC 

LIBRARY 


h 

T 

TO 

GEORGE  RHYFEDD  FOULKE 

c 

1 


Q 


3 


NOTE 

The  first  story  included  in  this  volume,  "  Two 
Mormons  from  Muddlety,"  was  published  in  Har- 
per's Magazine.  The  story  following,  "Alfred's 
Wife,"  originally  appeared  in  the  Century,  under 
the  title  "  Lucinda,"  and  is  now  published  through 
the  courtesy  of  the  publishers  of  that  periodical. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

TWO  MORMONS  FROM  MUDDLETY.     .     .        3 
ALFRED'S  WIFE 155 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


"'I'M  JUST  AWFUL  HAPPY'" Frontispiece 

"'JUST    RECKONED    I'D    RIDE    ACROSS    AND 

SEE '  " Facing  p.      8 

"TO  PREPARE  NICHOLAS" "        12 

"SHE     MADE    A    HABIT     OF     STEALING     HIS 

FLASK" 4t        14 

"ACCORDINGLY  HE  STARTED  OFF  EVERY 

FORENOON  IN  THE  TUB" "  34 

"'YOU   MUST   BE  AWFUL  TOUGH!'"  ...  "  36 

"OH  YES,  SHE  HAD  KNOWN  IT!  SHE  WAS 

UGLY  NOW" "  82 

SUSPICIOUS  FOOTPRINTS "  86 

"'WOMEN'S  WOMEN  AL — WAYS,'  SAID  THE 

GENERAL" "  go 

A  SAINT'S  DISCOMFITURE "      104 

"THE  MORMONS  WERE  COME  UPON  TOW- 
ARDS EVENING" "  118 

"THE  DEER  TROOPED  THROUGH  THE  FOR- 
EST"    "  124 

"IT  SEEMED  TO  HIM  HE  HAD  BEEN  THERE 

A  YEAR" "  140 


TWO   MORMONS    FROM    MUDDLETY 


FOR  a  fortnight  the  cold  down  the  val- 
ley of  the  Big  Thunder,  and,  indeed, 
throughout  the  forests  of  West  Virginia,  had 
been  severe.  The  Big  Thunder  froze  even 
at  Barr's  Crossing,  where  the  current  at  its 
lowest  was  rapid  and  powerful. 

Barr's  house — it  was  a  log -cabin  of  one 
room — stood  facing  down  stream,  just  above 
the  point  where  the  little  Buffalo  Branch 
slipped  into  the  larger  river.  Behind  Barr's 
cabin  there  lay  a  wide  meadow.  The  moun- 
tains hemmed  river  and  meadow  in,  ris- 
ing steeply  on  all  sides,  covered  with  forest 
—  hemlock  below  and  hard  -  wood  above. 
Through  this  mountain  gorge,  past  the  mea- 
dow and  cabin,  the  Big  Thunder  poured  its 
swift  stream.  During  such  time  as  the  river 
was  open,  Nicholas  Barr  was  ferryman.  But 


4  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

every  morning  for  the  past  ten  Nicholas  had 
measured  the  thickness  of  the  ice  at  the 
centre  of  his  "  crossing,"  and  at  length  he 
was  satisfied  that  the  ferryman  would  not 
be  needed  for  a  month,  and,  if  the  cold  en- 
dured, for  perhaps  longer. 

The  following  morning,  having  thrown 
water  on  the  fire  and  nailed  his  cabin  door 
fast  from  the  outside,  he  and  his  mule 
crossed  on  the  ice  to  the  right  bank  of  the 
stream,  and  made  up  the  steep  road  towards 
Carr's  Mill,  seven  miles  away.  The  week 
before,  he  had  driven  his  cows,  a  team  of 
horses,  and  a  yoke  of  oxen  up  to  his  brother 
Reuben's,  and  having  made  such  other  prep- 
arations as  were  needful,  he  could  now  leave 
the  meadow  and  the  little  group  of  log-build- 
ings to  the  wild-cats  and  foxes. 

Nicholas  Barr  was  in  his  thirties,  a  large 
man,  shaggy-headed  and  bushy-browed,  with 
a  reddish -brown  skin,  a  thick  brown  beard, 
and  a  look  of  slow  and  serious  good-will. 
When  he  had  first  married  he  had  gone 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  5 

clean-shaven,  and  held  himself  erect,  de- 
spite his  heavy  shoulders.  After  eighteen 
months  of  married  life  with  a  woman  some 
ten  years  his  senior  he  began  to  stoop 
slightly,  and  he  acquired  a  new  look  —  a 
look  of  dogged  perseverance.  The  wife 
had  been  of  a  fretful,  uneasy  disposition, 
taking  life  hard,  but  an  excellent  cook 
and  worker ;  and  this  was  a  main  matter^ 
for  her  husband  was  the  clumsiest  creature 
in  the  world  where  victuals  were  concerned ; 
he  could  scarcely  bake  his  own  bread  when 
forced  to  do  so  by  some  temporary  absence 
of  his  wife,  and  though  a  powerful  man  and 
used  to  hardship,  he  was  cursed  with  an  in- 
constant and  feeble  digestion.  After  three 
years  of  childless  married  life  the  wife  had 
died.  Barr  straightway  began  to  suffer — 
from  grief  a  little,  and  mightily  from  the  loss 
of  so  excellent  a  cook.  He  cried  once  or 
twice  for  the  wife  whom  he  had  lost,  and 
forgetting  that  he  had  ever  suffered  from 
anything  like  ill -temper  on  her  part,  was 


6  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

moved  to  a  degree  of  sincere  sorrow.  But, 
sitting  upright  in  his  bed  in  the  night,  he 
was  far  more  moved  by  the  attacks  of  heart- 
burn and  indigestion,  which,  as  his  own  cook, 
he  began  now  to  bring  upon  himself. 

It  took  him  but  a  short  while  to  have  it 
borne  in  upon  him  that  he  must  get  a  cook. 
He  accordingly  came  to  an  understanding 
with  a  boy,  who  was  to  help  him  in  the 
farm-work,  as  well  as  prepare  both  their 
meals.  Two  years  passed  over  this  arrange- 
ment. When  on  this  day  of  the  second 
winter  Barr  saw  that  the  river  had  frozen 
solidly,  he  told  the  boy  he  might  go  home 
and  see  his  people ;  he  wouldn't  need  him 
again. 

As  Nicholas  arrived  at  Carr's  Mill,  Amri 
Carr,  the  miller,  came  out  on  the  stone  steps. 
Amri  was  large  and  ruddy,  with  a  twrinkle  in 
his  eye.  He  looked  well  fed  and  fortunate. 
The  dust  of  the  flour  whitened  him  from 
head  to  foot.  Even  his  eyelashes  were  white. 
He  greeted  Nicholas  heartily,  blowing  the 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  7 

flour  from  his  beard,  and  speaking  as  if  Nich- 
olas were  some  thirty  feet  farther  away  than 
he  was. 

"Aren't  had  no  Mormons  down  the  Big 
Thunder?" 

Nicholas  said  he  had  seen  none  such. 

"  Well/'  said  Amri,  dusting  his  sleeve, "  you 
will ;  there's  two  of  'em  perusin'  these  parts 
— prowlin'  round  to  pervert  women  folk  to 
be  Saints.  Tell  ye,  Nic,  these  two  Mormon 
elders — youngest  elders  ye  ever  saw — they've 
been  a-carryin'  on  up  at  Muddlety  like  time 
and  a  jack-knife.  Yes,  sir !  Where  are  ye 
p'intin'  to  ?"  Amri  took  a  sack  of  flour  by 
the  neck  and  threw  it  over  his  shoulder. 

"P'intin'  to  Rich  Valley,"  replied  Nich- 
olas, looking  down  at  his  stirrup  with  some 
appearance  of  embarrassment.  Amri  let 
the  bag  of  flour  drop  with  a  thump,  and  ap- 
peared to  prepare  himself  for  a  shock.  "Just 
reckoned  I'd  ride  across  and  see  if  —  she 
looks  as  she  did  —  that  day.  If  she  looks 
about  the  same — why — " 


8  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

"  You  won't  ?"  said  the  miller. 

"  Reckoned  I  just  would,"  replied  Nich- 
olas. 

Amri  drew  a  long  breath,  stuck  his  hands 
in  his  pockets,  and  squared  himself. 

"  Why,  she  was  a  little  green  stick  of  a 
gal  when  you  saw  her !  Little  winch,  little 
rod  of  a  thing.  Hell-to-find,  Nic,  time 
flies ;  sun's  been  a-shinin'  since  then.  Come 
summer,  come  fruit;  she'll  be  all  —  well, 
so  to  say,  all  bust  out  into  a  woman  by 
this!" 

"  Ride  over  with  me,"  said  Nicholas,  irrel- 
evantly to  the  effect  of  the  sun's  shining  on 
the  little  rod  of  a  thing.  Amri  replied  that 
nothing  would  suit  him  better.  Nicholas 
should  stay  with  him  overnight,  and  the  two 
of  them  would  set  out  in  the  morning. 

When  Amri's  family  of  eleven  were  pack- 
ed off  to  sleep,  and  while  he  was  preparing 
his  traps  for  the  early  start,  Nicholas  gave 
him  a  fuller  account  of  his  feelings  than  he 
had  as  yet  done. 


"'JUST   RECKONED    I'D    RIDE   ACROSS   AND    SEE* 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  9 

No,  he  had  not  seen  or  heard  of  "her" 
since  the  evening  four  years  before  when 
she  and  her  father,  old  Sammy,  had  come 
to  the  Crossing  with  Amri.  But  he  had 
always  remembered  the  little  girl's  face.  At 
first  he  had  wished  he  had  a  daughter  like 
that ;  but,  as  Amri  said,  she  was  a  grown-up 
girl  now,  and  as  far  as  asking  her  to  be- 
come his  wife  was  concerned,  no  doubt  when 
he  saw  her  again  he  would  feel  differently; 
but  at  all  events  he  was  going  to  see 
her. 

Amri  had  seen  her  the  winter  before,  and 
he  affirmed  now  that  his  cousin  D'liss  was 
just  as  pink  and  white  and  pretty  as  a  plum- 
tree  blossom,  and  that  her  father  old  Sammy, 
he'd  taught  her  to  fish  and  swim,  and  she 
could  do  most  anything  that  was  no  use  to 
do.  "  Yes,  sir,  and  she's  about  as  useful 
round  the  house  as  a  tame  coon  or  a  cata- 
mount, providin'  his  will  was  good." 

To  this  Nicholas  made  no  answer.  He 
remembered  a  face  in  the  twilight  on  the 


io  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

raft  crossing  the  Big  Thunder.    He  was  going 
to  see  that  face  again. 

Three  days  of  hard  riding  through  a  snow- 
storm brought  the  two  men  to  Rich  Valley. 
The  valley  was  thickly  settled,  and  was 
tapped  at  the  southern  end  by  a  railroad. 
"  Old  Sammy,"  a  little  man  with  a  red  face 
and  yellow  hair  streaked  with  gray,  greeted 
his  cousin  Amri  with  warmth,  and  said,  ab- 
ruptly, that  he  liked  his  friend's  look.  His 
four  daughters  —  with  a  wave  of  his  hand 
towards  the  farm-house — would  be  glad  to 
make  them  welcome.  But  when  he  heard 
the  quest  upon  which  Cousin  Amri's  friend 
had  come,  he  said  frankly  that  he  didn't 
think  his  chances  amounted  to  those  of  a 
gone  coon  ;  but,  dang  him,  he  might  try ! 
If  D'liss  chose  to  live  in  a  log-cabin,  why, 
dang  her,  let  her  do  it  !  Did  he  know 
D'liss?  Well,  D'liss  looked  frail,  but  whip- 
cord wasn't  in  it !  D'liss  was  quiet,  but 
she  was  better  company,  begol,  than  a  dog 
or  a  gun !  And  D'liss  was  a  gal  o'  spirit ; 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  n 

and  if  D'liss  couldn't  bow  her  fiddle,  well, 
then,  he,  old  Sammy,  hadn't  ever  been  thirsty 
in  his  danged  life  ;  and  D'liss,  though  she  had 
a  pinky  color,  and  though  she  was  slim  as 
a  young  hickory — well,  never  mind,  it  didn't 
make  any  difference  to  old  Sammy, — but  if 
she  didn't  have  an  arm  and  a  will  like  a  rib 
o'  steel — oh,  geepheu  !" 

After  this  statement  they  had  drinks  all 
round,  as  if  to  prepare  Nicholas  for  the  will, 
the  strength  of  which  was  connoted  by  the 
power  and  oddity  of  the  oath  employed. 

Jn  the  evening  they  sat  about  the  stove 
in  the  parlor.  As  Nicholas  looked  about 
the  room  and  saw  the  rich  crimson  and  pink 
wall  -  paper,  the  six  chromos,  the  luxurious 
carpet,  the  chairs,  and  above  all  the  red-hot 
stove,  he  began  to  have  visions  of  his  own 
log-cabin.  He  could  hear  the  Big  Thunder 
roaring  coldly;  faint,  exasperated  tones  of 
his  first  wife's  voice  became  audible  to  his 
inner  ear.  How  cheerless  the  gorge  and 
the  gray  woods  must  look !  Nicholas's  eye 


12  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

dwelt  meditatively  on  the  red  sofa.     There 
was  no  sofa  at  Barr's  Crossing. 

Suddenly  he  gave  up  all  hope.  His  heart 
sank;  he  concluded  he  was  on  a  fool's  er- 
rand, and  at  the  same  moment  the  door 
opened,  and  Sammy's  youngest  daughter 
entered. 

She  was  slim  and  frail-looking,  with  soft 
yellow  hair,  long,  narrow  eyes,  and  a  bright 
color.  There  was  a  dreamy  expression  upon 
her  face  that  might  have  gone  with  a  droop- 
ing figure ;  but  she  held  herself  erect,  and 
apparently  suffered  from  no  hesitations  or 
embarrassment.  Nicholas  knew  her  at  once. 
That  was  how  she  had  looked  years  ago — 
even  to  the  wisp  of  hair  which  strayed  down 
one  cheek.  He  determined  he  would  try 
his  luck. 

Delia  Delissa  May,  as  her  mother,  Mrs. 
Sammy  Cartright,  had  called  her,  after  the 
heroines  of  three  novels,  read  opportunely 
before  the  birth  of  this  her  last  baby,  was, 
above  all  else  in  the  world,  her  father's 


"TO  PREPARE  NICHOLAS' 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  13 

friend.  This  filial  amity  had  been  at  first 
based  on  the  fact  that  she  never  talked 
when  he  was  fishing.  In  time  she  learned 
to  fish  herself,  and  became  therewith  his 
chosen  and  constant  companion.  She  was 
tireless,  and  enjoyed  the  open  air.  More- 
over, when  her  father  had  drunk  as  much 
as  Delissa  from  long  and  necessary  obser- 
vation thought  was  wise,  she  made  a  habit 
of  stealing  his  flask  out  of  the  coat  which 
generally  lay  on  the  bank  and  of  hiding  it. 
Old  Sammy,  on  discovery  of  the  theft,  al- 
ways acted  as  if  it  had  never  happened  be- 
fore. He  swore  roundly;  accused  Delissa; 
called  her  a  thief;  to  which  she  responded 
on  each  new  occasion  with  a  set  form  of 
words:  That  she  had  not  seen  the  bottle, 
and  she  hated  the  sight  of  it,  and  she  wish- 
ed it  was  dead.  Old  Sammy  made  a  point 
of  accepting  this  statement  without  demur; 
and  the  fishing,  with  no  drinks  between  fish, 
went  on  as  before. 
.The  girl's  mother  had  died  while  she  was 


14  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

still  a  child.  Her  elder  sisters  had  thus 
grown  into  the  habit  of  taking  care  of  the 
house,  marketing,  sewing,  and  the  like ;  and 
Delissa  accordingly  had  time  to  fish,  to  read 
novels  and  adventures,  to  play  her  violin,  to 
comb  her  yellow  hair  before  a  little  looking- 
glass  in  her  own  room,  and  occasionally  to 
be  rather  more  flattering  in  her  manner  to 
some  young  farmer  of  the  neighborhood 
than  her  lack  of  special  interest  in  him  war- 
ranted. 

It  happened  that  her  grandmother,  who 
survived  the  mother,  had  made  the  trip 
across  the  Alleghanies  in  a  wagon  while  yet 
she  was  a  girl.  She  often  related  to  her 
grandchild  the  many  pleasures  and  hard- 
ships of  the  journey.  The  child's  picture 
of  the  old  woman's  story,  with  the  lives  of 
Dave  Crockett  and  Daniel  Boone,  and  yet 
other  accounts  of  more  obscure  heroes  of 
the  woods,  had  entered  into  her  mind  deep- 
ly. Her  father's  manner  of  bringing  her  up 
contributed  to  foster  this  influence,  as  did 


d 
w 


w 
H 
O 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  15 

certain  traditions  of  the  family ;  for  her 
father's  grandfather  had  fought  a  pitched 
battle  with  the  Indian  chief  Shaweengo  in 
the  old  days  in  Kentucky.  And  even  now 
there  was  an  uncle  who  had  sold  his  wretch- 
ed house  and  farm  in  "old"  Virginia,  and  was 
prospering,  deep  in  the  woods  and  moun- 
tains behind  the  Alleghany  Ridge,  and  who 
every  fall  wrote  to  her  father  to  come  out 
and  kill  deer,  and  go  bee-hunting  with  him. 
It  was  to  this  uncle's  log-cabin  she  had  been 
taken  four  years  before.  She  remember  it 
as  the  most  wonderful  place  in  the  world. 
There  was  a  tame  bear  cub  there,  and  the 
men  were  very  gentle  and  respectful  to  little 
girls.  Since  her  earliest  childhood  she  had 
always  cast  her  eyes  longingly,  therefore, 
towards  the  sun  as  it  set  over  the  unbroken 
forest,  and  felt  in  her  little  heart  that  there, 
where  the  sun  seemed  to  hasten  in  his  go- 
ing down,  there  lay  a  world  of  wonder, 
of  romance,  danger,  hardship,  and  pleasure 
— all  very  different  from  the  life  of  Rich 


16  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Valley,  with  its  railroads,  hotel,  and  corner 
grocery. 

She  was  therefore  not  a  little  pleased 
when  she  heard  that  Nicholas  had  ridden 
across  the  mountains  and  through  the  winter 
snows  to  "  see  her  face/'  She  remembered 
him  only  as  a  bearded  giant,  who  had  poled 
her  across  a  dusky,  great  river  in  the  winter- 
time ;  but  when  she  understood  that  he  had 
buried  his  first  wife  she  drew  back,  and  told 
her  father  that  the  sooner  his  friend  went 
home  the  better  for  all  concerned. 

Nicholas  was  sorely  put  to  it  how  to  win 
the  girl,  and  this  saved  him  ;  for  he  ended  by 
making  no  effort  whatsoever.  But  his  aston- 
ishing skill  with  an  axe  and  his  very  con- 
siderable strength  made  an  effect,  as  did  his 
easy  good -humor.  The  girl  was  piqued 
also  that  he  was  not  more  jealous  of  her. 
For  he  appeared  to  be  rather  kindly  disposed 
towards  her  other  admirers ;  and  after  a 
month  or  more  she  began  to  hate  him. 
This  hate  caused  her  many  sleepless  night* ; 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  17 

and  it  was  not  long  before  she  looked  pale, 
and  presently  the  day  came  when  she  seem- 
ed to  herself  to  have  lost  her  pleasure 
in  fishing.  They  were  married  a  week 
after  this.  Nicholas  had  intended  to  have 
stayed  yet  another  week  with  old  Sammy ; 
but  the  spring  thaw  had  set  in,  and  he  be- 
gan to  hear  the  Big  Thunder  in  his  dreams, 
and  men  hallooing  vainly  on  the  opposite 
bank. 

They  started  therefore  the  third  morning 
after  the  wedding.  The  two  mules  stood 
saddled  in  front  of  the  house  in  the  early 
twilight.  Her  sisters  wished  Delissa  every 
sort  of  happiness,  and  gave  her  keepsakes 
without  number.  Her  father  told  Nicholas 
to  be  good  to  his  little  girl ;  he  kissed  her, 
and  told  her  to  be  a  good  woman,  and  to 
think  o'  him  ;  and  God  dang  him  if  he'd  ever 
go  fishin'  again  as  long  as  he  lived.  Delissa 
gave  a  happy  sob  or  two  as  she  rode  off  into 
the  morning  twilight  with  her  husband. 
Old  Sammy  retired  to  the  wood-shed,  sat 


i8  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

down  on  the  chopping-block,  and  cried  like 
a  child  for  five  minutes. 

On  the  evening  of  the  fourth  day  Delis- 
sa  found  herself  on  the  sandy  shore  of  Big 
Thunder,  and  presently  she  was  sitting  be- 
fore a  sparkling  fire  in  her  husband's  cabin. 
She  was  cold,  tired,  and  hungry;  but  she  was 
moving  in  a  strange  dream  of  happiness. 
The  rough-hewn  logs  of  the  cabin,  the  pegs 
with  Nicholas's  fishing-rod  and  powder-horn 
and  rifle,  the  strings  of  onions  and  beans 
which  appeared  through  the  cross-slabs  of 
the  loft,  the  buck-horns  and  bear-hides,  the 
immense  chimney-place,  and  the  unceasing 
roar  of  the  waters  outside — all  this  was  just 
as  she  had  foreseen  it.  When  Nicholas  bore 
a  heavy  log  in  for  the  fire,  she  remembered 
the  picture  at  page  no  in  her  Life  of  Dan- 
iel Boone.  She  wondered  if  the  hero  was  as 
large  as  her  husband. 

Nicholas  thought  that  they  had  best  cook 
them  some  supper.  The  two  went  out  to 
the  "  kitchen,"  which  was  merely  a  second 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  19 

log-cabin  of  the  same  size  and  shape,  stand- 
ing about  a  rod  from  the  "  house,"  as  Nicho- 
las called  the  first  one.  Here  Delissa  again 
watched  her  husband  light  the  fire,  and  lost 
herself  in  her  new  happiness. 

"  Now,  then,'*  said  Nicholas. 

"  Now,  then,"  repeated  Delissa,  softly. 

"  I'll  get  the  stuff  out  o'  the  saddle-bags," 
said  he,  "  and  then  you  might  cook  us  sup- 
per." 

"Who?  — I?"  cried  the  girl.  "Why,  of 
course  I  will,  Nic ;  only  I'm  afraid  I  can't !" 

"Can't  cook,  D'liss?"  said  her  husband. 
"Why  not?" 

"  Why,  yes,  I  can — if  you'll  teach  me,"  she 
returned. 

Nicholas  cooked  their  supper,  and  at  the 
same  time  showed  his  wife  how  it  was  done. 
She  listened  to  him,  and  said  "  Yes,  yes," 
very  intelligently,  while  all  the  time  she  kept 
wondering  if  Daniel  Boone  could  have  been 
as  powerful  a  man  as  Nicholas. 

Her  husband,  for  his  part,  thought  he  had 


20  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

never  heard  anything  as  sweet  as  her  laugh 
of  happiness  as  she  hung  her  fiddle  on  a 
peg  beside  his  long  rifle,  and  placed  the 
small  looking-glass  she  had  brought  beside 
that.  When  she  turned  he  was  looking  at 
her  with  an  odd  expression. 

"Why,  Nic,  what's  wrong?" 

"  I  b'lieve  I  never  did  know  just  how 
lonesome  I  was  all  those  years !" 

Delissa  was  about  to  throw  her  arms 
round  his  neck  when  the  door,  which  had 
been  on  the  crack,  was  pushed  open,  and  a 
gaunt,  lean,  bedraggled  yellow  cat  entered 
with  such  a  yowl  as  might  have  meant 
either  joy  or  despair.  Delissa  gave  rather  a 
start,  and  Nicholas  looked  concerned. 

"  That's  that  cat !"  said  he.  "  He's  had  to 
forage  for  himself  since  I  went  courtin'  you  ; 
'pears  like  he  hadn't  done  himself  no  great 
credit." 

His  ribs  could  be  counted  with  certainty. 
Delissa  stooped  down  and  stroked  the  puss. 
Puss  purred. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  21 

"  What's  his  name,  Nic  ?" 

"Well,"  said  her  husband,  twining  his  fin- 
gers in  his  beard  and  looking  somewhat  em- 
barrassed, "  I  called  him  Old  Rusty,  but  she 
called  him — " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Delissa,  realizing  that  this 
was  the  wreck  of  the  first  Mrs.  Barr's  cat. 
"  Poor,  poor  puss!" 

Stroking  the  cat,  she  wondered  vaguely 
if  the  first  Mrs.  Barr  had  perhaps  had  a  yel- 
low complexion  and  green  eyes.  And  what 
in  the  world  should  they  call  him  now? 

"  He's  a  perfect  Misery,"  said  Nicholas. 

Delissa  laughed.  "  We'll  call  him  Mis- 
ery," she  said ;  and  Misery,  who  was  ready 
to  respond  to  any  title  so  it  called  him 
to  food,  had  then  and  there  his  first  honest 
meal  for  many  a  week. 

The  next  morning  Delissa  ran  joyfully 
down  to  the  sandy  beach,  and  looking  back 
saw  her  new  surroundings  by  daylight :  the 
two  log -cabins;  some  distance  apart  from 
these,  and  up  the  river-bank,  the  log-stable ; 


22  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

and  beyond,  a  dozen  bee-gums,  a  long,  low 
shed,  and  a  scattering  orchard  of  apple,  pear, 
and  plum  trees.  The  meadow,  which  was 
all  of  the  farm,  widened  from  the  point  of 
sand  where  she  stood  as  a  triangle  from  its 
apex ;  the  remote,  irregular  base  of  which 
was  a  line  of  hills  covered  with  a  growth  of 
sapling  and  laurel,  and  at  no  great  distance 
rising  into  a  mountain  ridge. 

It  was  gray  and  cold,  for  the  sun  had  not 
yet  risen,  but  the  girl's  heart  was  beating 
with  excitement  and  pleasure.  It  was  so 
unlike  Rich  Valley  ! — it  was  the  real  back- 
woods. And  what  a  tremendous,  swift,  hur- 
rying river !  And  there  was  the  great  raft 
upon  which  they  had  come  over.  The  long 
boat  was  a  dug-out ;  the  little  fat  one  must 
be  the  boat  Nic  had  always  called  the 
"tub." 

And  now  the  girl  discovered  the  little 
rocky  island  which  her  husband  had  once 
described  to  her.  It  lay  more  than  a  hun- 
dred paces  from  the  slip  of  sand  where  she 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  23 

stood,  and  in  swift  mid-current  of  the  Big 
Thunder.  It  was  covered  with  a  thickety 
growth,  except  for  a  broad  face  of  rock  at 
the  near  end.  Delissa  watched  how  the 
lumbering  ice-blocks,  of  which  the  river  was 
now  full,  bore  heavily  down  against  this 
rocky  surface,  and  then,  divided  by  it,  swept 
round  upon  either  side,  and,  beginning  to 
receive  the  undulatory  motion  of  the  rapid, 
danced  heavily,  and  finally  disappeared  in 
the  whiteness  and  roughness  of  the  foaming 
water  below.  She  thought  she  would  like 
to  sit  upon  this  island.  From  it  she  would 
be  able  to  see  the  two  cabins,  the  wide  mea- 
dow, and  Nicholas  at  work.  No  doubt  they 
would  both  sit  there  and  fish. 

The  sun  must  have  risen,  for  the  hemlocks 
high  above  her  on  the  mountain-side  were 
a  brilliant,  clear  green  in  the  early  light. 
Delissa  stretched  her  long  arms  upward,  and 
stood  a  moment,  smiling  at  the  blue  sky. 

"  Oh,  oh,"  she  cried,  softly,  "  I'm  so 
happy !  I'm  just  crazy  to  go  fishing  !" 


24  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

"  Breakfast,  Liss,"  cried  Nicholas  from  the 
cabin-door. 

"  I  certainly  ought  to  have  cooked  it !" 
thought  the  girl. 

The  days  passed  rapidly  and  smoothly. 

The  life,  it  is  true,  was  rough ;  there  was 
not  a  convenience  of  any  sort ;  but  it  was 
free,  it  was  new,  it  was  in  the  open  air,  and 
it  was  what  she  had  dreamed. 

Nicholas  taught  her  all  the  art  of  cooking 
he  knew.  After  a  week's  tuition  he  thought 
she  must  have  learned  a  good  deal,  and  per- 
haps she  had  better  commence  to  cook  for 
the  two.  Pretty  soon  he  would  have  a  job 
of  timbering  on  the  Oak  Ridge,  across  the 
river.  It  would  take  him  a  fortnight,  and 
after  that  he  would  have  the  timber  to  haul  to 
the  mill.  Delissa  therefore  took  the  cooking 
into  her  own  hands.  She  worked  early  and 
late  at  it,  and  hoped  for  improvement.  She 
was  not  sensible  of  any.  She  lost,  however, 
several  pounds  of  weight,  for  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  escape  from  the  heat  of  the  open  fire. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  25 

But  she  persevered.  Nicholas  devoured 
whatever  was  placed  before  him.  It  cost 
him  sometimes  an  effort.  But  he  felt  that 
he  owed  as  much  to  his  wife.  If  she  tried 
her  best  to  cook  for  him,  he  must  certainly 
try  his  best  to  eat  what  she  prepared.  With- 
out, however,  becoming  aware  of  it,  he  grad- 
ually ate  less  and  less ;  and  this  left  him 
hungry,  at  the  same  time  that  several  severe 
attacks  of  indigestion  unnerved  him,  and 
brought  him  finally  to  the  pass  of  being 
physically  afraid  of  his  food.  This  hunger, 
which  began  to  grow  upon  him,  was  mild  at 
first,  but  presently  it  became  gnawing. 

He  wished  to  God  his  hens  would  lay  ! 

About  the  end  of  their  third  week,  and  of 
the  second  week  of  Delissa's  cooking,  Nich- 
olas took  of  necessity  to  surreptitious  mid- 
night repasts.  He  would  slip  out  of  bed, 
and  spend  an  hour  in  the  other  cabin  cook- 
ing, or  endeavoring  to  cook,  for  himself.  On 
one  of  these  occasions  Delissa,  happening  to 
awake,  and  finding  herself  alone,  slipped  out 


26  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

after  him  ;  but  as  she  came  round  the  cor- 
ner she  saw  Nicholas,  through  the  window, 
cooking  and  eating.  She  skurried  back  to 
bed,  with  cold  feet,  and  something  of  an 
ache  at  her  heart — an  ache  that  soon  changed 
itself  into  a  determination  to  cook  a  more 
palatable  meal  for  him  the  next  day. 

But  the  next  day  at  breakfast  she  had  no 
luck  at  all.  And  when  in  the  evening  Nich- 
olas came  home  from  his  work  on  the  moun- 
tain, hungry  and  tired,  the  supper  was  as 
bad  as  possible.  He  said  nothing,  and  he 
ate  all  that  he  could — it  was  not  much.  His 
appetite  now,  burning,  or  rather,  as  it  seemed 
to  him,  prowling  about  restlessly  within  him, 
kept  him  wide  awake  all  night.  Yet  he  was 
afraid  to  rise  and  cook  himself  another  mid- 
night meal,  for  he  judged  by  his  wife's 
breathing  that  she  was  either  awake  or 
sleeping  lightly,  and  he  had  no  mind  that 
she  should  guess  how  empty  he  was  or  to 
what  a  pass  his  sufferings  had  brought  him. 

Indeed,  it  had  gone  beyond  mere  emptiness 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  27 

with  him  now.  He  appeared  to  himself  to 
feel  hunger  not  only  in  his  centre,  but  in  all 
his  extremities.  His  hands  and  feet  tossed 
about  hungrily ;  his  neck  was  hungry,  that 
he  knew ;  and  he  had  a  sensation  of  ravin 
at  the  back  of  his  head. 

All  night  long  Delissa  lay  by  his  side, 
wakeful  and  feeling  exhausted  from  lack  of 
nourishment,  for  her  cooking  found  no  more 
favor  in  her  own  eyes  than  it  did  in  her 
husband's. 

The  next  morning  Nicholas  felt  cross,  and 
could  scarcely  help  showing  that  he  was  so. 
The  breakfast  was  more  eatable  than  usual ; 
but  unfortunately  Delissa  had  forgotten  the 
night  before  to  feed  the  former  Mrs.  Barr's 
cat,  who  accordingly  strolled  in  as  soon  as  he 
smelled  the  fumes  of  meat  upon  the  fire. 
Rubbing  up  against  Nicholas's  chair,  he 
purred  loudly,  and,  with  a  kind  of  chirrup 
midway  in  the  purr,  rose  lightly  and  seated 
himself  in  the  man's  lap.  Nicholas  was  out 
of  humor,  and  seizing  Misery  by  his  scruff, 


28  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

shied  him  somewhat  loosely.  The  animal 
laid  manfully  about  him  in  all  directions  as 
he  whirled  sideways,  and  catching  the  table- 
cloth with  half  a  claw,  fetched  it  after  him, 
the  meat  and  batter  falling  with  the  cloth. 

Both  lay  in  the  ashes.  Nicholas  for  a 
moment  thought  he  would  slay  the  cat. 
Instead  of  doing  so,  he  jumped  up,  and 
hurriedly  left  the  cabin.  With  half  an  ex- 
planation to  his  wife  outside,  he  rowed  him- 
self across  the  river. 

When  the  girl,  running  in,  saw  her  own 
breakfast  as  well  as  her  husband's  in  the 
ashes,  and  Misery  thievishly  slinking  round 
the  corner,  it  was  almost  more  than  she 
could  bear.  She  determined  that  the  next 
morning  her  husband  should  take  her  up  to 
his  "  law-sister's,"  Mrs.  Reuben  Barr.  Mrs. 
Reuben  lived  with  her  husband  and  five 
young  ones  just  off  the  road  to  Carr's  Mill. 
She  had  promised  to  come  down  and  help 
get  Delissa  settled  when  first  the  latter  had 
come  to  the  Crossing.  But  her  husband, 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  29 

Reuben,  was  still  away,  at  work  in  the 
lumber  camps,  and  till  he  returned  she 
couldn't  leave  the  children.  For,  as  she  said 
to  Nicholas, "  to  leave  the  chaps  with  their 
eldest  brother  "  —  this  was  General  Floyd 
Barr — "  was  the  same  as  to  give  them  into 
the  charge  of  a  wild-cat,  and  a  mighty  keer- 
less  wild-cat  at  that !" 

But  Delissa,  in  view  of  the  mistakes  she 
made,  thought  that  if  she  could  merely  see 
Mrs.  Reuben  it  might  be  a  help  to  her.  She 
could  at  least  learn  from  one  such  visit  to 
bake  bread. 

As  for  Nicholas,  he  felt  as  he  crossed  the 
Big  Thunder  breakfastless  that  his  hunger 
had  ceased  to  be  a  joke.  Come  what  might, 
he  must  be  fed.  He  made  therefore  for  his 
brother's  house,  and,  arriving  there,  said  casu- 
ally that  he'd  come  to  stay  the  day  out.  He 
would  not  give  the  true  reason  for  his  com- 
ing ;  that  would  be  to  prove  disloyal  to  his 
wife. 

As  towards  noon   they  sat  down  at  the 


30  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

table,  Mrs.  Reuben  asked  him  if  he  had 
heard  of  the  two  Mormon  preachers  who 
were  up  in  Muddlety?  And  had  he  heard 
that  Dolly  Stout  was  down  with  a  fever? 
"Yes,  sir,  and  that  man"  — " that  man" 
was  Mrs.  Reuben's  phrase  for  one  not  a 
husband  —  "that  man  was  away,  and  the 
woman  there,  sick  to  death,  with  her  two 
weaklin'  brats/* 

Nicholas  said  he  had  heard  that  Thomp- 
son was  away,  but  not  that  Miss  Stout  was 
down  with  fever. 

"  Not  a  God's  soul  o'  goodness  in  the 
place  !"  cried  Mrs.  Reuben.  "  She'll  die  for 
want  o'  wood  or  food,  or  both  ;  and  surely  I 
wouldn't  want  the  worst  minx  alive  to 
starve  like  that  P 

Mrs.  Reuben,  a  rosy,  fat  little  body,  spoke 
roughly,  but  from  a  heart  which  was  large 
and  maternal ;  and  when  she  had  concluded 
her  statements,  looked  with  round,  wide-open 
eyes  steadily  at  her  brother-in-law,  as  much 
as  to  say,  "  Now,  then,  do  your  part." 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  31 

Nicholas  said  he  would  go  down  and  see 
to  her  wants.  He  did  so  later  in  the  day. 
Although  the  worst  was  over,  the  woman 
was  miserably  ill ;  but  she  could  scrape  along 
if  Mrs.  Reuben  would  come  for  an  hour  every 
morning,  and  if  she  could  get  her  next 
month's  firewood  sawed  and  hauled.  Nich- 
olas felt  sorry  for  her,  and  at  the  same  time 
it  occurred  to  him  that  the  performance  of 
this  duty  to  the  sick  woman  would  enable 
him  to  get  his  dinner  every  day  for  a  week 
or  more  at  his  brother's,  and  afford  at  the 
same  time  an  excellent  excuse  to  Mrs. 
Reuben  for  his  so  doing.  He  told  Miss 
Stout  to  count  on  him  for  the  wood. 

For  several  mornings  after  this  Nicholas 
spent  an  hour  or  two  splitting  and  sawing 
firewood  for  Dolly  Stout,  and  doing  other 
small,  needful  chores  about  her  rickety,  foul 
cabin.  And  each  day  he  got  his  dinner  at 
his  brother's.  As  Dolly  and  the  dinner  were 
all  one  thing  in  his  mind,  he  said  nothing 
about  her  to  his  wife,  pretending  always  to 


32  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

take  a  cold  snack  or  lunch  with  him  to  his 
work. 

But  in  a  few  days  Dolly  was  up  and  about 
and  needed  no  more  help,  and  Nicholas, 
when  he  arrived  as  usual  one  morning,  saw 
to  his  surprise  a  black,  fat  little  figure  of  a 
man  sitting  on  the  wood-pile  reading  a  dirty 
newspaper.  He  liked  Dolly  little  enough  as 
it  was,  and  taking  a  good  look  at  the  new- 
comer, and  noticing  especially  a  pair  of 
white  hands,  he  took  the  blaze  to  his  broth- 
er's without  more  ado. 

Nicholas's  timbering  on  the  mountain  was 
now  finished,  but  the  road  was  not  yet  in 
condition  to  haul  over.  This  left  him  all 
day  at  home,  and  if  he  was  still  to  get  his 
noonday  meal  at  his  brother's  he  would  have 
to  invent  and  give  to  Delissa  a  new  reason 
for  being  away  from  her  a  large  part  of  each 
day.  He  told  her  that  he  thought  he  would 
fish  some.  He  explained  with  some  diffi- 
culty that  the  best  fishing  lay  down  the 
river,  and  that  by  noon  he  would  be  too  far 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  33 

away  to  return  to  the  cabin  for  dinner.  Ac- 
cordingly he  started  off  every  forenoon  in 
the  tub.  He  did,  in  fact,  fish  for  an  hour  or 
more,  after  which  he  would  stride  off  through 
the  forest  to  Mrs.  Reuben's,  where  a  hot  din- 
ner awaited  him,  thinking  as  he  went  that 
perhaps  now  in  a  few  days  his  wife  would 
have  learned  how  to  cook,  and  thereafter  he 
could  abide  at  home. 

Delissa  begged  him  more  than  once  to 
take  her  to  Mrs.  Reuben's,  and  Nicholas 
said  yes,  she  ought  to  go  there  some  day ; 
but  he  put  the  day  off,  and  generally  with 
the  same  phrase :  "  He  would  take  her 
there  to-morrow,  after  breakfast,  if  it  was 
clear."  His  wife  had  never  known  any  one 
so  procrastinative.  She  was  puzzled.  Per- 
haps he  had  some  reason  for  not  taking  her 
to  Mrs.  Reuben's.  In  the  meantime  Mrs. 
Reuben  had  come  to  wonder  at  the  regular- 
ity of  her  "  law-brother's  "  visits.  General 
Floyd  had  his  suspicions,  too.  And  Nich- 
olas found  it  more  and  more  difficult  with 


34  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

each  ensuing  day  to  satisfy  Delissa  on  the 
one  hand  and  his  sister-in-law  on  the 
other.  Being  naturally  a  speaker  of  the 
plain  truth,  he  became  feebly  evasive  to  his 
wife,  and  the  more  so  when  she  inquired  of 
him :  Why  was  he  obliged  to  fish  every 
day  ?  and  why  not  take  her  ?  and  why  did 
he  never  catch  anything  worth  mentioning  ? 
and  why  did  he  spend  such  a  long  time 
catching  the  little  he  did  ?  What  happy 
days  she  had  spent  fishing  with  her  dear  old 
Sammy !  Delissa  would  have  given  the 
world  to  have  gone  fishing  with  him.  She 
was  hurt  that  he  didn't  seem  to  want  her. 
It  was  now  not  at  all  the  life  she  had  ex- 
pected to  lead.  She  even  began  to  wonder 
if  he  did  possibly  get  his  mid-day  meal  some- 
where else.  How  else  account  for  his  loss 
of  appetite  ?  Perhaps  if  she  gave  him  a 
better  supper — at  all  events,  she  would  try. 

About  noon  of  a  warmish  day,  General 
Floyd  Barr  appeared  on  the  far  bank  of  the 
Big  Thunder.  Delissa  had  no  trouble  in 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  35 

playing  ferryman  when  her  husband  was 
away.  She  had  learned  how  to  pole  from 
old  Sammy.  She  brought  the  raft  over  to 
the  bank  with  a  swing.  As  she  looked 
up  she  saw  a  shock-headed,  sandy-haired, 
freckle-faced  boy,  with  a  pair  of  keen  gray 
eyes,  warts  on  his  hands,  and  square  knee- 
patches  on  his  breeches. 

"  How  d'ye  ?"  said  the  General.  "  Thought 
you  were  goin'  to  drown  yourself!  My 
name's  Barr.  You  must  be  awful  tough  !" 

The  General  eyed  Delissa  all  over  approv- 
ingly. 

"  I  guess  you  could  wrastle  me,"  he  said. 
Then,  after  a  moment  or  two  of  serious 
meditation,  and  while  the  girl,  now  on  the 
return  trip,  was  still  struggling  with  the 
force  of  the  mid-current : 

"  If  I  ever  have  to  marry,  I'll  pick  out  a 
woman  like  you !" 

As  they  landed,  General  Floyd  said  he'd 
come  to  go  fishing  with  Nic. 

"  Heard 'the  news  ?" 


36  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Delissa  said  she  hadn't. 

"  The  Mormonizers  is  come !     Hoo  !" 

The  advent  of  the  Mormons  appeared  to 
fill  General  Floyd  with  some  savage  longing, 
for  he  seized  a  stool  and  brandished  it  at 
Misery,  who,  having  kept  his  eye  on  the 
General  from  the  moment  he  had  entered 
the  cabin,  now  scrabbled  out  the  door  and 
sought  safety  on  the  roof. 

"  Yes,  sir/'  said  the  General,  "  they  say 
they  just  eat  young  gals!  They're  puttin' 
up  with  Dolly  Stout  now." 

"  Who's  she  ?"  said  Delissa. 

"Why,  she's  Red  Dolly  — Thompson's 
wife,  or  somethin'  like  it." 

"  Who's  Thompson  ?"  asked  Delissa. 

"Why,  Thompson's  just  Thompson." 
replied  the  boy,  cracking  his  knuckles 
with  an  expression  of  martyrdom  endured 
in  a  good  cause.  "  He  lives  beyond  us. 
Nic,  he's  been  there  every  day  for  a  week. 
Guess  he  told  ye  'bout  Thompson's  Red 
Dolly?" 


o 

c| 


O 
C3 

O 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  37 

"  So  Dolly  is  Thompson's  wife/'  said  De- 
lissa,  busying  herself  with  the  fire. 

"I  don't  know;  she's  young,  and  she's 
good-lookin',  and  she  cooks  for  him,  and 
they  fight  —  ought  to  be  his  wife,  if  she 
isn't." 

"And  where's  Thompson  these  times?" 
said  Delissa. 

"Oh,  he's  away — somewhere,"  replied  the 
General,  the  subject  not  holding  him  ;  "  and 
these  two  Mormonizers,  they're  a-Mormon- 
izin'  along  with  her !" 

When  Nicholas  found  that  he  had  the 
General  for  a  companion  on  his  morning's 
fishing,  he  told  Delissa  that  he  would  be 
back  by  noon  for  dinner. 

Delissa,  as  later  on  in  the  morning  she 
set  about  preparing  the  meal,  felt  that  a 
great  unhappiness  had  fallen  upon  her.  Of 
course,  there  was  nothing  between  Nic  and 
this  Red  Dolly.  But  if  he  had  been  there 
every  day,  he  had  surely  gotten  his  dinner 


38  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

there — cooked,  and  no  doubt  well  cooked, 
by  Red  Dolly.  It  was  for  Red  Dolly,  then, 
or  for  her  cooking,  that  Nicholas  had  left 
Delissa  alone  for  whole  days.  No,  there 
was  nothing  between  them.  But  why  hadn't 
he  spoken  out  ? — why  hadn't  he  said,  "  I 
can't  eat  your  victuals  !"  .  .  .  "  Dolly! — Red 
Dolly!"  and  " Thompson's  wife,  or  some- 
thing like  it."  Delissa  began  to  sob,  trem- 
bling as  she  walked  across  the  room,  carry- 
ing the  kettle  with  both  hands.  "  Oh,  it 
was  bitter ! — it  was  not  nice  of  Nic  ; — it  was 
just  devilish  of  Nic  ! — oh  !" 

At  the  same  moment  Misery  slipped  si- 
lently in  at  the  door.  The  girl,  moving  rap- 
idly across  the  room,  was  beginning  to  cry, 
and,  the  tears  filling  her  eyes,  she  saw  hazily, 
and  before  she  could  set  the  kettle  on  the 
fire,  trod  heavily  on  Misery's  soft  stomach, 
who  at  the  moment  was  rolling  about  on 
his  back  on  the  floor  in  a  kind  of  agony 
or  delirium  of  pleasure.  Misery  responded 
with  a  yell  and  a  struggle  for  freedom.  The 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  39 

girl  staggered,  upset,  and  fell  almost  in  the 
fire ;  and  the  kettle,  flying  from  her,  struck 
the  stone  hearth  and  spilled  its  contents  in 
the  ashes.  As  Nicholas,  coming  home  to  din- 
ner, entered  the  cabin  from  without,  the  cat 
disappeared  between  his  legs.  Nicholas  was 
none  too  early;  the  girl's  skirt  had  flirted 
into  the  ashes  and  was  aflame.  Dragging 
her  to  her  feet,  he  tore  the  dress  from  her 
body,  and  swung  her  into  the  middle  of  the 
cabin,  and  clear  of  the  fire.  The  burning 
dress  he  kicked  into  the  fireplace. 

Delissa,  her  face  crimson,  her  eyes  full  of 
tears,  her  yellow  hair  tumbled  down,  stood 
before  him  in  her  short  red  petticoat,  much 
less  startled  and  in  fear  than  still  sorrowful 
and  angry. 

One  hand  having  been  slightly  scalded 
and  then  plunged  into  the  hot  ashes,  she 
held  it  out,  not  because  it  was  covered  with 
ashes,  but  because  it  hurt  her. 

"  In  the  good  Lord's  name !"  cried  Nich- 
olas, looking  at  her,  "  How'd  ye  do  it,  D'liss  ?" 


40  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Delissa  made  at  first  no  reply.  She  look- 
ed at  the  fire,  and  at  the  contents  of  the 
kettle  now  mingling  with  the  ashes ;  and 
then  at  Nicholas  himself.  Finally  she  said, 
in  a  trembling  voice : 

"  Misery !" 

"  I'll  slay  that  cat,"  said  Nicholas,  express- 
ing that  determination  for  the  hundredth 
time. 

Delissa  looked  again  at  the  fireplace,  in 
which  the  dress  was  flaming  brightly,  again 
at  Nicholas,  who  was  looking  at  her,  and  last 
surveyed  herself:  her  short  red  petticoat 
and  gray  stockings,  and  her  wounded  hand 
held  out  to  one  side.  Her  face  began  to 
twitch  with  sympathy  for  the  poor  girl  whom 
she  saw  in  this  horrible  plight.  She  sudden- 
ly burst  into  tears. 

"  I  knew  it  would  come  to  this,"  she 
sobbed. 

Nicholas  for  the  life  of  him  couldn't  tell 
why,  but  he  began  to  feel  guilty. 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  brought  me  here 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  41 

for  !  I  could  do  well  enough  if  it  wasn't  for — 
her  cat.  Nothing  I  can  do  suits  you,  or  him. 
He — he's  a  wicked  devil,  and  he  knows  it ! 
I'm  heartsick  of  it  all.  And  where  you  spend 
your  time  nobody  knows,  nor  I  don't  know 
if  you  know  yourself ;  when  you  fish  even 
you  catch  nothing !" 

The  child  spoke  the  words  in  a  gentle, 
low  voice  and  brokenly,  for  she  was  sobbing. 
The  tears  streamed  down  her  cheeks,  al- 
though her  face  was  uncontracted ;  only  her 
lips  quivering  and  her  breath  coming  irreg- 
ularly. 

"  Maybe  you're  tired  of  me  ;  or  you  think 
I  might  learn  quicker  how  to  —  c-cook.  I 
should  ha'  thought  if  a  man  loved  a  girl  he 
would  put  up  with — with — 'most  anything," 
— through  Delissa's  mind  passed  visions  of  all 
the  unmistakably  palatable  dishes  she  had 
prepared;  Nicholas  thought  of  the  hungers 
he  had  endured  ; —  "  rather  than  to  go  phi- 
landering off  up  there  with  a  Red  Dolly 
woman.  I've  had  lovers  too ;  I'm  not  so 


42  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

poor  but  I  can  have  'em  yet,  if  I've  a  mind 
to." 

Delissa's  eyes  lightened  through  her  tears, 
and  she  gave  her  head  a  little  toss.  But  the 
threat  was  made  in  a  voice  and  tone  which 
would  have  perfectly  carried  the  words,  "  I 
love  you  still,  and  you  might  say  you're 
sorry." 

Nicholas  hesitated,  feeling  dumb  and  con- 
fused. The  girl  wanted  him  to  come  to  her, 
so  she  moved  a  step  back,  her  heel  as  she 
did  so  striking  the  tall  wooden  cupboard. 
The  china  ranged  along  the  shelves  rattled 
ominously;  and  the  big  tin  dish-pan,  rilled 
with  boiling  water  to  be  ready  for  the  clean- 
ing up  after  dinner,  shook  and  splashed. 
"  Don't — don't,"  said  Nicholas,  seeing  her 
elbow  approaching  the  dish-pan. 

But  Delissa  had  derived  a  certain  confi- 
dence from  the  thought  of  her  former  ad- 
mirers. Her  voice  took  a  clearer  tone,  and 
she  pushed  the  dish-pan  farther  back  on  the 
shelf  on  the  cupboard  with  her  elbow,  with- 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  43 

out  looking  round.  This  brought  the  pan 
too  near  the  corner.  Nicholas  motioned  to 
her  to  take  care. 

"  I  don't  care  for  anything,  now,"  said  she, 
with  as  much  defiance  in  her  manner  as  her 
natural  gentleness  and  the  sweetness  of  her 
voice  would  admit  of.  "  No,  sir ;  I  don't !" 
with  a  flirt  of  her  body  and  another  light 
toss  of  her  yellow  head;  and,  her  burned 
hand  hurting  her  suddenly,  she  held  it  out 
in  the  must  pitiable  manner,  as  she  contin- 
ued :  "  Things  must  change.  If  you  want 
to  go  and  live  with  Red  Dollies — " 

"Live  with  Dollies!"  exclaimed  Nicholas. 

"  I  hope  she  cooks  all  right." 

"  Cooks  all  right,"  said  Nicholas,  repeat- 
ing her  words  in  astonishment. 

"  So  you  did  get  your  dinner  from  her  ?" 
cried  the  girl. 

Nicholas  was  about  to  say  where  he  had 
got  his  meals  when  his  wife  broke  in  upon 
his  preparations  for  speech,  which  at  the  best 
of  times  were  slow. 


44  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

"  You  can  cook  for  yourself  after  this.  I 
can  catch  fish,  if  I  can't  cook.  And  I  hate 
it,  and  I've  just  a  mind  to  give  up,  and  leave 
off,  and  quit,  and  do  nothing,  never,  any 
more!" 

Delissa's  eyes  began  to  sparkle,  and  though 
she  still  held  the  burned  hand  to  one  side, 
she  threw  the  other  bravely  forward  as  if  to 
loosen  it  from  the  thraldom  of  her  sleeve,  a 
gesture  indicative  of  her  new  determination 
to  give  up,  leave  off,  quit,  and  do  nothing 
never  for  evermore ! 

"  It's  too  much  for — for  a  girl,"  she  con- 
tinued, looking  reproachfully  at  her  husband. 
"  You  might  ha*  tried  to  eat — you  might  ha* 
pretended  ;  it  wouldn't  ha'  hurt  me  to  have 
encouraged  me  a  little  teeny  bit.  And  you 
never  drowned  the  cat  when  you  said  you 
would,  and  you  know  he  thrusts  himself  be- 
tween us.  Maybe  you  like  him  better  than 
you  do  me — " 

Delissa  had  bedome  softer  again,  and, 
having  exhausted  all  her  real  pleas,  was  en- 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  45 

gaged  in  manufacturing  others  against  Nich- 
olas, as  this  of  his  not  drowning  the  cat,  she 
having  made  him  solemnly  and  with  a  kiss 
swear  to  her  only  the  day  before  that  he 
would  harm  Misery  under  no  circumstances. 
She  now  ended  up  with  saying,  as  she  looked 
tearfully  down  and  away  from  Nicholas : 
"Why  don't  you  say  something?'* 
Nicholas  held  out  his  hands  deprecatingly. 
He  had  things  to  say,  but  he  had  first  to 
marshal  and  compose  them  into  a  proper 
order,  and  he  was  tortured  with  fear  of  the 
china's  unsetting  above  Delissa's  head  in  one 
of  her  erratic  movements  of  despair.  So 
that  finally — partly  from  real  affection  and 
partly  out  of  a  desire  to  avoid  the  impending 
smash — he  said,  as  the  girl  stood  looking 
away  from  him  and  drying  her  tears : 
"  Come  over  to  me,  D'liss — come  here!" 
The  girl  caught  something  in  the  tone 
of  his  voice  that  was  not  altogether  what 
she  wished  or  expected ;  it  was  not  loving. 
She  turned  half  round  from  him  and  burst 


46  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

into  a  storm  of  sobs,  repeating  again  and 
again : 

"  You  don't  love  me  now — you  don't  love 
me  any  more,  not  any  more,  never  any  more, 
never !  I  half  believe  you  d-do  care  for  that 
r-red  thing !  She  can  c-cook." 

Nicholas  was  distracted.  He  had  never 
seen  her  really  cry  before.  The  first  Mrs. 
Barr's  tempests  had  all  been  dry,  and  in  the 
nature  of  anger.  As  he  saw  the  tears  wet- 
ting Delissa's  cheeks  and  chin,  even,  and  her 
blue  eyes  looking  at  him  reproachfully,  he 
felt  that  he  could  better  endure  slow  death 
by  fire,  and  that  he  loved  her  Heaven  knows 
how  much.  But  he  was  still  frightfully  anx- 
ious about  the  china,  and  indeed,  before  he 
was  able  to  do  more  than  say  the  girl's  name 
in  a  pacifying  manner,  her  burned  hand,  as 
she  turned  to  lean  against  the  cupboard, 
came  between  the  wood-work  and  her  petti- 
coat, and,  paining  her  smartly,  she  withdrew 
it  upward.  The  dish-pan  of  hot  water  was 
in  the  way  and  tilted  with  the  force  of  the 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  47 

blow  her  elbow  gave  it.  Nicholas  rushed 
forward,  with  both  hands  stretched  out,  to 
save  it  from  falling. 

Delissa,  supposing  he  meant  the  out- 
stretched hands  for  her,  drew  as  suddenly 
away,  and  over  went  the  tin  pan,  deluging 
the  floor  of  the  cabin,  and,  in  its  course 
downward,  washing  Nicholas's  two  hands 
with  water  hot  enough  to  burn  a  little  and 
to  make  him  suppose  that  he  was  burned 
badly. 

He  uttered  a  growl  and  wrung  his  hands. 
Delissa,  seeing  what  had  happened,  stopped 
crying  in  a  flash  and  looked  at  him  aghast 
with  the  fear  that  he  was  really  burned. 

"  Burned  'em,"  said  Nicholas,  savagely, 
and  as  if  to  himself. 

"No,  no,"  cried  the  girl,  and  ran  to  a  shelf 
to  get  a  bottle  of  oil.  She  brought  it  to 
Nicholas,  her  face  changed  suddenly  from 
self-pity  to  the  tenderest  fear  and  compas- 
sion. Nicholas  looked  at  the  bottle.  It 
was  really  too  much  for  him.  He  regarded 


48  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Delissa  with  some  seventy,  and  then  said 
dryly : 

"  Vinegar !" 

The  girl  looked  innocently  at  the  bottle, 
which  she  had  uncorked.  There  was  no  label ; 
she  smelled  it ;  it  was  vinegar.  As  she  turned 
hastily  to  the  shelf,  Nicholas  took  up  his 
hat,  and  with  a  call  to  the  boy  outside  to 
accompany  him,  strode  down  to  the  beach 
and  rowed  angrily  across  the  river  in  the  tub . 

When  Delissa  saw  that  her  husband  had 
indeed  gone,  that  she  was  left  alone,  it  seem- 
ed to  her  as  if  the  very  heart  of  the  world 
had  ceased  beating.  She  watched  him  and 
the  General  pull  the  boat  up  the  beach. 
They  disappeared  in  the  twilight  and  brush- 
wood. 

She  shut  the  door  and  sat  down  on  a 
stool.  An  hour  passed,  and  then  another. 
It  was  all  over  now,  and  no  doubt  she  had 
been  wrong  from  the  beginning.  But  why 
in  the  name  of  sense  had  they  not  taught  her 
to  cook?  Was  there  a  thing  more  mysteri- 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  49 

ous  than  that  there  was  nothing  whatever 
about  cooking  in  the  novels?  They  eat 
the  most  abundant  and  the  most  savory 
"  viands/*  but  who  in  Heaven's  name  cooked 
the  viands? 

Davy  Crockett  and  Daniel  Boone  cooked 
for  themselves — Nicholas  couldn't.  She  had 
done  her  best,  all  to  no  purpose.  And  now 
— Red  Dolly  !  and  doubtless  Nicholas  would 
go  tell  her  all  about  his  "  wife " !  As  for 
Misery,  he  was  the  devil  in  cat  form ;  he  was 
possessed ;  or  else  the  first  Mrs.  Barr  was  in 
the  cat ;  at  least,  the  cat  sided  with  the  first 
Mrs.  Barr  in  every  hair  of  his  body,  else  why 
did  he  always  trip  her  up  ?  It  made  no  dif- 
ference ;  it  was  all  over — cooking,  all  her 
efforts,  her  self-restraint,  and — and — love — 
and  Nicholas  didn't  care  for  her  now — and 
indeed  why  talk  about  it  ?  It  was  all  over ! 
If  she  could  upset  herself  in  the  river,  if 
the  bottom  would  unexpectedly  fall  out  of 
the  boat,  then  she  would  drown.  Nicholas 
would  see  her  lying  at  the  bottom,  all  white ; 


50  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

or  if  some  brutal  man  would  happen  in  and 
kill  her,  then  Nicholas  would  find  her  body 
lying  right  across  the  threshold.  The  tears 
began  to  rise. 

Three  light  knocks  were  given  upon  the 
cabin  door.  After  a  moment  or  two  they 
were  repeated.  Delissa  had  started  to  her 
feet  with  the  first  knock,  but  before  she 
could  make  up  her  mind  to  bolt  the  door 
the  latch  clicked.  The  door  opened  ;  a  long, 
white,  hairy  hand  appeared,  clasping  the  end 
of  the  door,  followed  by  an  arm  in  seedy 
black  as  the  door  pushed  open  wider. 

Delissa  fell  back  several  paces,  the  blood 
rushing  to  and  fro,  from  her  heart  and  to 
her  head,  and  back  again,  as  she  fixed  her 
eyes  on  the  door,  now  at  a  standstill. 

"  May  godly  strangers  receive  welcome 
here  ?"  said  a  voice,  hollow  enough  to  have 
been  followed  by  a  racking  cough. 

"  Visitors  from  the  Lord,'*  rapped  out 
another  voice,  quickly,  lightly,  and  in  a  tone 
that  evinced  an  eager  desire  to  see  inside. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  51 

Delissa  would  have  spoken  if  she  could.  As 
she  gave  no  reply,  the  door  farther  opened, 
and  Delissa  saw  slowly  enter  a  tall,  pale  man, 
followed  by  a  short,  fat  one.  Her  breath 
came  quick. 

"  We  are  peace-lovers,'*  said  the  tall  man, 
unctuously. 

"  Peace-bringers,"  followed  up  the  little 
one,  at  once  echoing  and  outdoing  his 
brother,  who  blocked  both  his  vision  and 
entrance  by  standing  full  in  the  door-way. 

The  tall  man,  whom  Delissa  now  saw  to 
be  of  a  doughy  white  complexion  and  bald- 
headed,  cast  a  pair  of  large  brown  eyes  upon 
her  inquiringly.  As  she  merely  gasped  in 
reply,  he  came  farther  in,  allowing  his  young- 
er fellow  to  enter,  which  the  younger  fellow 
did  briskly. 

He  also  looked  inquiringly  at  the  girl, 
but,  receiving  no  answer,  both  men,  having 
learned  the  custom  of  the  country  through 
which  they  had  travelled  for  some  months, 
directed  their  eyes  towards  the  floor,  and  sat 


52  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

down  in  the  chairs  nearest  them.  Delissa 
recovered  herself  suddenly  on  seeing  them 
seated,  and  said, 

"  You  can  come  in.'* 

Not  knowing  what  to  do  next,  she  sat 
down  and  folded  her  hands  in  her  lap.  But 
a  side  glance  of  the  younger  man  suddenly 
apprised  her  of  the  fact,  of  which  she  had 
been  forgetful,  that  she  was  in  her  red  petti- 
coat, and  that  as  this  petticoat  was  short, 
more  was  visible  than  should  be.  She  stood 
up  as  if  shot  out  of  her  seat,  and  reddened. 

What  to  do  ?  She  was  afraid  to  leave  the 
two  men  for  a  moment,  and  her  other  dress 
was  locked  up  in  a  box  in  the  house.  She 
turned  abruptly  away  from  the  men,  whose 
eyes  were  still  fastened  to  the  floor,  and 
began  angrily  washing  the  ashes  from  her 
burned  hand.  A  hot  sensation  all  over  her 
body  told  her  that  both  men  were  using  their 
opportunity  to  examine  her  from  top  to  toe. 
She  became  aware  also  that  the  kettle  could 
still  be  seen  lying  on  the  stone  hearth,  and 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  53 

that  the  water-pan  was  upside  down  on  the 
floor.  There  was  a  moment  when  she  could 
have  sat  down  on  the  floor  herself,  in  the 
thus  lengthened  and  decent  midst  of  her  red 
petticoat,  and  told  these  two  wretched  Mor- 
mon creatures  (for  she  guessed  them  to  be 
such)  to  go  about  their  business.  But  her 
hand  began  to  smart  her,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  tall,  elder  man  spoke. 

"We  are  came  to  ask  a  night's  lodging, 
and  we  are  came  to  spread  the  great  news — 
the  gospel  'cording  to  Smith — and — " 

The  Mormon  lengthened  out  his  "ands," 
dwelling  on  them  with  a  long,  twanging 
drawl.  This  gave  him  good  time  to  beat  up 
his  next  idea,  and  to  bring  it  out  in  rounded 
form. 

Delissa  still  kept  her  back  to  the  two  men, 
mainly  out  of  a  sense  that  if  her  ankles 
could  be  seen  that  way,  as  well  as  any  other, 
at  least  she  couldn't  see  that  they  were  being 
seen.  The  younger  man  now  interrupted 
rapidly : 


54  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

"  Blessed  are  they  't  hold  to  the  prophet ; 
blessed  are  the  Latter-Day  Saints,"  he  said, 
skurrying  over  the  words  in  a  sharp,  high, 
singsongy  voice,  and  in  such  a  way  that 
the  words  seemed  pitched  out  headlong. 
"  Blessed  are  the —  You've  hurt  your  hand, 
Mrs.—  ?  Let  me—  What?  Yes,  cer- 
tainly." 

Delissa  flushed  a  bright  pink.  But  before 
she  had  half  an  idea  of  what  was  happening, 
the  little  man,  with  skilful,  quick,  white,  fat 
fingers,  had  lapped  her  hand  about  with  oiled 
rag — oil  and  rag  both  produced  from  his 
own  pocket — and  had  carefully  tied  a  piece 
of  dirty  ribbon  around  the  whole. 

"There,  Mrs.—  ?" 

"  Barr,"  she  replied.  "  My  husband,  he'll 
be  in  shortly.  You  can  stay ;  he'll  see  you. 
I  thank  you  for — "  She  held  out  her  hand 
shyly.  "  I  guess  he'll  be  here  soon." 

Silence  ensued,  during  which  Delissa  was 
enabled  to  observe  her  guests  more  narrow- 
ly. The  tall  man  had  sunk  together  on  his 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  55 

chair,  and  was  rubbing  the  knuckles  of  one 
hand  gently  in  the  palm  of  the  other.  De- 
lissa  disliked  him.  He  wore  a  flowing  brown 
beard.  This  growth,  hanging  from  his  sal- 
low face  and  lank  neck,  swept  abundantly 
over  a  time-yellowed  shirt-front.  But  his 
head  was  as  sterile  of  hair  as  his  jaw  was 
profuse.  What  there  was  grew  almost  on 
his  neck,  hiding  his  absence  of  collar  with  a 
thin,  glossy  brown  fringe.  The  absence  of 
hair  above  seemed  to  have  indecently  ex- 
posed a  pair  of  enormous  ears. 

Still  continuing  to  play  softly  with  his 
hands,  the  tall  man  opened  and  shut  his 
mouth  once  or  twice  with  a  licking  sound, 
and  then,  in  his  deep  voice,  "  Ball !"  He 
inclined  his  head  slightly  to  one  side,  as  if 
in  sorrow  for  what  he  was  about  to  say,  and 
looking  towards  where  his  younger  compan- 
ion was  seated,  he  repeated,  with  a  caress- 
ing inflection,  "  Ball— Ball 's  name.  Li  Ball." 

Delissa  wondered  if  she  would  have  to 
sew  up  the  holes  in  the  little  man's  elbows. 


56  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

She  guessed  not,  as  his  black  waistcoat  was 
held  together  by  two  safety  pins,  in  place 
of  seven  long -departed  buttons.  He  had 
not  shaved  for  a  week  or  more.  She  hoped 
Nicholas  wouldn't  lend  him  his  razor. 

Since  the  elder  man's  delivery  of  the  word 
"  Ball,"  in  mournful  tone  and  with  depreca- 
tive glance,  the  girl  had  no  doubt  that  Li 
Ball  was  his  own  name.  She  thought  it 
might  relieve  the  strain  if  she  ventured 
further  in  the  same  line. 

"And  your  friend,  his  name?"  she  said, 
looking  to  the  tall  man  for  the  information. 

"Ball's  friend's  name,"  put  in  the  little 
man  suddenly  and  lightly ;  "  I'm  his  friend," 
he  added,  more  slowly,  and  pointed  with 
his  thumb  to  his  own  bosom.  "  My  name's 
Ball — Li  Ball.  His  name,"  he  continued, 
nodding  toward  the  tall  man — "  his  name  is 
Sidon — Dank  Sidon." 

Delissa  realized  that  they  made  a  point 
of  naming  each  other,  as  perhaps  being  more 
modest. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  57 

"  Well/*  she  said,  having  now  recovered 
herself  so  far  as  to  have  determined  to  ac- 
cept the  shortness  of  her  petticoat,  and  to 
make  the  best  of  the  Mormons — "well,  I 
expect  you're  both  hungry." 

Mr.  Ball  said  with  vivacity  that  he  was. 

Mr.  Sidon  made  the  licking  noise  that  he 
had  before,  which  signified  that  he  had  said, 
or  would  like  to  be  considered  to  have  said, 
precisely  what  his  little  friend  had. 

For  a  moment  Delissa  looked  helplessly 
about  her.  She  made  up  her  mind  promptly. 

"  Mr.  Sidon,  Mr.  Ball,  I  a'n't  no  account 
of  a  cook ;  and  the  fact  is  I  spoiled  one  din- 
ner to-day  already;  and  I'm  afeard  you'll 
have  to  look  elsewhere  for  victuals,  or  else 
wait  till  my  man  comes  home ;  and  if  you 
get  it  then  I  don't  know,  or  any  other  time 
in  this  house  unless  you  cook  it  yourself," 
she  added,  after  a  pause,  and  smiling  at  an 
idea  in  itself  so  absurd. 

"Li,"  said  Mr.  Sidon,  deliberately— "  Li, 
cook." 


58  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Li  sprang  at  once  to  the  fire  and  began 
to  rake  among  the  coals.  As  Delissa  watched 
him  in  some  surprise,  he  said  :  "  Saw  y'  had — 
course  y'  did — we  all  have — trouble.  Burned 
hand,  dress  —  course,  too  bad!  Lost  y'r 
dinner  —  too  bad!  What?  Yes,  certain- 
ly!" 

Mr.  Li  Ball  hurried  over  the  beginnings 
of  his  words,  spurted  out  what  remained,  and 
chewed  off  the  ends,  speaking  all  the  while 
with  a  sharp,  clicking  voice,  and  glancing 
furtively  about  the  cabin  from  under  heavy 
black  eyebrows.  If  unanswered  by  Delissa, 
he  answered  himself  by  "What?  Yes, 
certainly." 

She  wondered  how  a  man  could  be  at 
once  so  fat  and  so  quick  in  his  motions. 

"You  can  cook — if  you  can/*  said  Delissa. 

"  Can't  you?"  said  Mr.  Ball,  turning  upon 
her. 

Delissa  flushed  and  felt  angry.  Mr.  Ball 
became  aware  that  something  was  wrong. 

"  Can't  cook  ?   Too  bad  !  What's  husband 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  59 

say?  Nothin'  ?  Thinks  a  heap,  guess! 
What?  Yes,  certainly  !  I'll  learn  y'  cookin'. 

— D ,  get  a  log  for  th'  fire.  Certainly 

will ! — Spiled  his  dinner,  eh  ?  Burnt  dress, 
eh  ?  —  hand,  too  —  terrible  pain  !  Nothin' 
easier !  Take  lessons  me !  Y'  know  she 
brought  him  butter  in  lordly  dish  —  there 
was  feastin'  in  Bible :  eat  and  drank  and  was 
merry  for  to-morrow  they  died  !  Why  not  ? 
Certainly !  Too  bad  !  Of  course  they  did ! 
-I'll  teach  you  !" 

Delissa  showed  Mr.  Ball  where  the  various 
needful  stores  were  kept,  and  while  he  was 
bending  over  the  fire  slipped  out  of  the 
kitchen  cabin. 

When  she  came  back  she  had  on  a  blue 
dress.  As  she  entered  the  door  she  ob- 
served, with  a  sudden  increase  of  heat,  that 
Mr.  Ball's  eye  slipped  down  quickly  to  where 
her  ankles  had  been  previously  visible,  and 
as  quickly  slipped  away  again  in  search  of 
some  plate  or  saucer  necessary  to  his  opera- 
tions as  cook. 


60  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

"  Dinner's  ready/'  he  now  said.  '"  D , 

dinner." 

D ,  thus  addressed,  elongated  himself, 

and  sat  down  willingly  enough  at  the  table. 
He  blessed  the  food  with  unction,  his  eyes 
fixed  steadily  upon  it. 

The  meal  was  tolerably  silent.  Once  dur- 
ing the  eating  Sidon,  without  premonitory 
symptoms  of  any  kind,  and  as  if  moved  by 
an  inward  humor,  broke  into  a  hoarse,  loud 
guffaw,  a  kind  of  cackle. 

But  immediately,  and  as  if  anxious  to  re- 
move any  bad  impression  this  outburst 
might  have  caused,  he  turned  to  Delissa,  and 
remarked  with  distinguished  irrelevance : 

"  'R  appetites,  Mrs.  Barr,  are  given  us  to 
cons'crate." 

He  helped  himself  to  more  molasses,  while 
Ball  glanced  about  in  all  directions,  and 
busied  himself  partly  with  eating  and  partly 
with  the  making  of  hot  cakes. 

"  What  we  can't  cons'crate  we  must  pluck 
out.  Pluck  it  out,"  continued  the  Saint,  in 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  61 

a  hollow  singsong,  at  the  same  time  extract- 
ing a  chicken  bone  from  his  mouth,  with 
apparent  danger  to  his  hand — "pluck  it  out 
and  cast  it  from  you."  He  cast  the  chicken 
bone  into  the  fire.  "  A  degraded  appetite  is  a 
degraded  man.  A  degraded  man  is — another 
biscuit,  Brother  Li  —  is  a  fiend  in  human 
form  ;  and  a  fiend  is  a  disgrace  and  a  shame 
to  the  place  he  lives  in  and  the  neighborhood 
that  suffers  him  ;  yes,  a  fiend  is  a  burrnin' 
shame !"  Sidon  burred  his  "  r's  "  furiously. 

Mr.  Ball,  who  thus  far  had  kept  the 
corners  of  his  red  lips  turned  piously  down, 
now,  with  a  suddenness  that  was  astonish- 
ing, twitched  them  into  a  grin  that  caused 
the  fat  of  his  face  to  rise  up  in  lumps  in  odd 
places,  and  was  near  to  abolishing  his  eyes 
out  of  his  head. 

"  That's  it,"  he  said,  evidently  restraining 
his  sense  of  humor  with  difficulty — "that's 
what  a  fiend  is  !  —  Certainly  !  Have  more 
molasses? — He's  the  wisest  man,  Mrs.  Barr  ? 
Yes,  sir !  He's  a  'possle  !  —  More  coffee  ?  — 


62  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Too  bad  about  husband!  Dare  say  per- 
fect man  !  I  thought  so  !  Lived  long  in 
wedlock  ?  —  No  !  —  Happy  state !  Oh,  yes ! 
course!  Oh,  perfect !" 

Ball  rose  to  make  cakes. 

Sidon,  munching  heavily,  continued,  fol- 
lowing the  food  about  with  his  eyes : 

"  Brother  Li  is  right.  Wedlock  is  the 
gate  through  which  the  saints  enter  into 
bliss  unspeakable.  Oh,  can't  have  too  much 
of  a  good  thing ! — Butter,  Li." 

Mr.  Sidon's  voice  seemed  to  drip  with  fat- 
ness as  he  spoke.  Delissa  was  not  certain 
whether  he  had  said  that  wedlock  or  butter 
was  a  bliss  unspeakable. 

He  continued  in  more  and  more  of  a  sing- 
song :  "  Ah,  the  grace  o'  God  !  That's  what 
we  all  need  here  below !  We're  ugly : — we 
want  grace; — we're  in  disgrace:  we  want 
grace;  —  we're  disgustin',  mis'rable,  dirrty 
sinners — liars,  and  horse-thieves,  and  beastly 
bishops  of  false  churches,  and  forgers  of 
false  checks.  Do  we  repent?  Nay!  We 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  63 

return  to  our  pleasurable  vices  as  the  dog  to 
his  vomit : — see,  now,  that's  where  we're  not 
graceful !  —  not  full  of  the  grace  o'  God. 
Oh,  oh,  we're  at  best  but  human  hogs.  Hogs 
we  are  born,  hogs  do  we  remain,  and  as  hogs, 
hoggishly,  do  we  become  extinct.  Pray  for 
grace — not  to  be  a  human  hog !  A-n-d  " — 
Sidon  lengthened  this  "  and  "  out  beyond  all 
the  others  to  signify  an  oncoming  climax — 
"  a-n-d  finally,  brethern  and  sistern,  we  kin 
gyrate  and  circumlocute,  but  we're  nothin' 
but  dirrt — dirrt "— he  seemed  to  take  a  de- 
light in  the  word — "  and  damned  dirrt  at 
that,  unless  the  grace  of  the  Church  is  spread 
upon  our  souls. — Molasses,  Li." 

Mr.  Sidon,  who  by  this  time  had  eaten 
enormously,  sat  back  in  his  chair. 

"  Husband  home  soon  ?"  inquired  Mr. 
Ball,  wiping  his  red  lips. 

Mrs.  Barr  thought  he  would  be  home  soon. 

"  Eat  now?  or  wait?"  continued  Ball; 
"  wait,  I  guess ;  good ;  too  bad  'bout  burnt 
hand !" 


64  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

"  Better  than  a  burrnt  soul,"  said  Sidon, 
with  his  burr.  "  Better  to  marry  than  burrn !" 
he  added,  out  of  a  clear  sky. 

Ball  looked  furtively  at  Sidon,  as  if  he 
wished  he  would  stop.  Sidon  continued, 

"  You're  a  lonely  woman,  a-livin'  here, 
Mrs.  Barr." 

"  Oh,  my  husband,  he—" 

"  Ha'n't  you  never  thought  what  it  might 
be  to  see  the  crystal  pavement,  the  golden 
towers,  the  silver  houses,  of  the  Great  City? 
Ha'n't  you?  No;  you  ha'n't!  You're 
buried ;  oncet  in  these  woods,  twicet  in 
sin  !  O — h,  come  out !" 

Sidon's  voice  almost  roared. 

Ball  left  the  table  and  took  a  chair  against 
the  wall.  His  eyes  slipped  restlessly  about. 
He  seemed  ill  at  ease. 

"We,"  continued  Sidon — "we  are  Latter- 
Day  Saints.  There  were  saints  in  olden 
times,  daughter." 

Delissa  recoiled  within  herself  from  this 
address,  but  she  showed  no  sign  save  to 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  65 

move  to  the  opposite  corner  of  the  cabin 
and  sit  down  on  a  bench. 

"  But  we  are  the  Latter  Saints :  like  the 
latter  rain,  we  visit  the  earth  gently."  Si- 
don's  voice  seemed  once  more  to  drop  with 
fat.  "  Let  no  man  deceive  you,  daughter ; 
we're  no  friends  to  sin ; — oh,  no  !  We're  the 
salt  of  the  earth ;  our  savor  is  not  lost ; 
we're  the  sweet  burnt  sacrifice,  smelling  in 
the  nosterils;  our  mouths  drop  waters  of 
wisdom  ;  oh,  daughter,  the  tongues  of  those 
whom  Smith  hath  come  strongly  upon  are 
steeped  in  honey." 

Delissa  began,  she  knew  not  why,  to  feel 
hot  all  over.  Mr.  Ball  was  playing  a  sort 
of  devil's  tattoo  with  his  feet,  resting  on  his 
heels,  and  quivering  the  toe  ends  of  his 
boots  at  a  tremendous  rate. 

"The  playsures  of  the  soul  are  pu-er," 
shouted  Sidon,  with  uncalled-for  vehemence. 
"Come  out  to  us!" 

Delissa  was  about  to  say  something  to 
the  effect  of  her  husband's  having  a  voice 


66  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

in  the  matter,  when  the  younger  Saint 
spoke. 

"  Bring  husband  out/'  said  he,  abruptly, 
and  kept  up  the  silent  tattoo  his  toes  were 
playing  on  the  air. 

"  Bring  him,"  said  Sidon,  rising  and 
straightening  out  the  several  joints  and  com- 
partments of  his  frame,  until  the  entire  lank- 
ness  of  him  was  erected  to  its  full  height. 
Delissa  rose  too.  She  was  growing  angry, 
and  at  the  same  time  afraid. 

Ball's  eyes  twitched  about  more  rapidly 
than  ever  in  his  head. 

"Oh,"  continued  Sidon,  "be  gen'rous; 
give  your  husband  ;  give  yourself !  Be  not 
mean  like  them  at  Muddlety,  that  give  only 
bruises  and  blows  to  the  Saints.  Oh,  there's 
a  hell  that  longs  to  feed  on  sinners !  There's 
a  House,  and  its  rafters  are  fire,  and  it's 
shingled  over  with  slabs  o'  hot  fire,  and  all 
thine  enemies  shall  fry  therein,  in  the  fat  of 
their  own  mean  thoughts — o — h! — " 

Sidon's   recollection  of  what   he  had  re- 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  67 

ceived  from  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles  at 
Muddlety  was  lashing  him  into  a  frenzy. 
Ball's  tattoo  became  faster  each  moment ; 
his  fingers,  too,  were  beating  on  the  side  of 
his  chair ;  and  his  eyes  slipped  from  Sidon 
to  Delissa  and  back  again  every  instant. 
Sidon  rushed  on,  extending  one  hairy  hand, 
and  pointing  a  long  finger  with  a  black  nail 
at  the  end,  as  if  at  an  object  visible  to  his 
corporeal  eye : 

"  There,  there,  over  the  door  o'  that  House 
it  is  written, '  Mene,  mene,  Tekel !'  Daugh- 
ter, what  does  that  signify?  It's  an  allusion. 
Where  ?  In  the  Book.  To  whom  ?  To 
Tekel !  Nowhere  else  in  the  great  Book  is 
Tekel  mentioned ;  only  there ;  there  he 
stands,  singled  out,  with  that  one  word 
pinned  to  him  forever,  for  all  generations  to 
look  at.  There  he  stands — Tekel !  Mene, 
mene,  Tekel.  Not  once  '  mene,'  but  twice 
6  mene/  Tekel,  the  meanest  man  in  the 
whole  world.  How  mean  do  you  think  that 
man  Tekel  must  ha'  been  ?  No  meaner  than 
the  Gentiles  up  a-yonder !" 


68  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

The  Saint  was  rolling  voluminously  on, 
borne  chiefly  upon  the  sound  of  his  own 
voice,  when  the  little  man  twitched  his  coat- 
tails  from  behind,  and  Sidon  sat  down  quick- 
ly, hard,  and  unexpected  to  himself.  He 
looked  reproachfully  at  his  companion.  De- 
lissa,  happening  to  have  her  back  to  the  two 
men,  was  unable  to  guess  the  cause  of  the 
sudden  cessation  of  Sidon's  oratory,  but  she 
was  thankful  that  it  had  stopped.  She 
wished  that  Nicholas  would  come  back — 
perhaps  now  he  never  would ! — if  he  only 
would,  and  throw  both  the  men  out  of  the 
cabin.  As  she  looked  at  the  hand  which  the 
little  fat  man  had  so  cleverly  wrapped  about, 
she  could  have  taken  a  shovelful  of  hot 
wood-ashes  and  flung  it  in  both  their  faces; 
and  the  picture  of  herself  in  this  action 
passed  fleetingly  before  her  mental  vision. 
She  turned  towards  the  two  visitors  again, 
thinking  angrily  how  Sidon's  beard  would 
sizzle  and  smoke  with  the  coals  in  it ;  and 
how,  as  for  the  little  man,  with  his  heavy 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  69 

black  eyebrows  and  red  lips — but  before  she 
could  imagine  the  proper  torture  to  be  meted 
out  to  him,  she  caught  his  eye.  She  colored 
faintly,  feeling  that  her  detestation  must  be 
painted  upon  her  face. 

But  Ball,  as  for  the  first  time  he  squarely 
met  the  girl's  glance,  thought  simply  that 
she  looked  very  soft  and  female,  and  that 
without  doubt  they  could  induce  a  person 
of  that  gentleness  and  facility  of  disposition 
to  fall  in  with  their  plans  and  join  the 
"Church." 

Delissa,  not  liking  to  be  inspected  so  close- 
ly, looked  again  at  the  younger  Saint  as  if 
she  expected  him  to  say  something. 

He  broke  out  suddenly :  "  Since  y'r  man 
doesn't  come,  better  go  • — h'm, — too  bad  • — 
yes;  's  late;  must  go,  Tostle !  Just  cook 
you  another  batch  o'  hot  cakes  'fore  I  go. 
H'm!— eh?" 

Sidon  continued  in  his  unwilling  silence, 
while  Ball  spent  a  few  minutes  in  cooking. 
He  covered  the  hot  food  carefully  with  plates 


70  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

and  saucers.  When  all  was  done  he  turned 
to  Delissa : 

"Don't  seem  to  understand  cook'ry? — 
No ;  s'pose  I  come  again ;  give  another  les- 
son ; — come  same  hour  ?  Oh,  certainly. — 
No ;  no  trouble ; — you'll  learn — same  hour  to- 
morrow. Good-night.  Blessed  be  house  !" 

The  girl  had  scarcely  time  to  decide 
whether  or  no  she  would  have  them  come 
again,  for  Ball,  seizing  Sidon  by  the  arm, 
directed  him  to  and  pushed  him  through  the 
door. 

"  Oh,  the  blessing  of—" 

But  Ball  had  hurtled  him  out  across  the 
step,  and,  shutting  the  door  behind  them 
both,  snapped  the  blessing  off  short.  Sidon's 
voice  could  still  be  heard  outside,  rolling 
into  the  darkness. 

Delissa  felt  her  heart  beat  freely  again. 

As  Ball  rowed  Sidon  across  the  river  he 
told  him  he  was  no  small  fool  not  to  see  the 
girl  was  scared.  Now  here  was  their  chance. 
"  That  gal  was  not  happy.  Her  husband 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  71 

must  be  cross  to  her.  PYaps  he  threw  her 
in  the  fire.  Certainly;  why  not?  By  gol! 
if  he's  like  that,  we'll  have  her : — she'll  come. 
But  tact !" 

"  Dad  burrn  it,  Ball !"  said  Sidon,  "  when 
religion  gets  a  grip  on  me — " 

"  Religion's  all  well  enough  in  its  place ; 
I'm  religious  at  right  time." 

"  It  don't  grip  you,"  said  Sidon. 

"  Tact,  for  ev'r'-day  use,  anyway,"  replied 
Ball,  tugging  at  the  oars. 

"  It  don't  throw  you  down.  Tears  like  it 
got  'mongst  my  very  bow'ls.  Tears  like  I 
can't  holler  loud  enough.  Tears  like  I 
don't  know  what  Fin  a-goin'  to  say  next ; 
but  all  I've  got  to  do  is  to  open  my  mouth, 
and  the  Lord  fills  me  full  o'  wor-r-rds ! 
Tears  like  it  wasn't  my  voice  I  heerd  a- 
speakin' — " 

"  Voice  of  a  durned  fool 's  what  ye  heerd  !" 
said  Ball,  as  he  stranded  the  boat,  and  with 
difficulty  pulled  it  up  to  the  spot  where  he 
had  found  it.  "  I  tell  ye,  tact !  There's 


72  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

verses  for  it.  Hasn't  the  Lord  foresight? 
Well,  foresight's  where  tact  commences; 
tact  is  oil  on  the  waters.  Certainly !  The 
Lord  didn't  go  and  play  the  fool  with  Moses ; 
He  didn't  command  Moses  to  take  up  that 
serpent  by  his  head,  did  He  ?  Nay,  but  by 
the  tail.  Certainly.  Well,  wasn't  that  tact  ? 
Dank,  ye're  lackin'  tact!  Just  's  tactless  as 
a  sheep." 

Sidon,  silenced  by  the  example  from  the 
Book,  walked  wearily  up  the  mountain  road. 
Ball  spent  the  hour  in  pointing  out  to  him 
that  by  a  little  skilful  cookery  at  the  right 
moment,  and  a  great  deal  of  soft  persuasion, 
they  might  win  the  girl.  They  passed  the 
night  at  Red  Dolly's  cabin. 

When  Nicholas  returned,  he  made  no 
mention  of  what  had  occurred.  But  he  was 
humble,  Delissa  thought,  almost  penitent  in 
demeanor.  When  he  sat  down  to  his  meal 
she  could  have  cried.  It  was  a  lie,  this 
meal!  She  would  tell  him  all  about  the 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  73 

Mormons.  But  instantly  the  thought  of 
Red  Dolly  crossed  her  mind.  It  was  her 
husband's  part  to  speak  first.  The  supper 
was  at  all  events  a  well-cooked  lie.  Nicholas 
ate  heartily.  Delissa  looked  at  him  shyly 
now  and  again,  wondering  greatly  that  there 
was  not  some  trace  of  Dolly  on  his  coun- 
tenance ;  as  if  "  Dolly "  must  be  written 
there  in  invisible  ink,  and  perhaps  a  word 
would  bring  it  out.  Nicholas  thought  to 
himself,  things  are  upset,  but  I  won't  speak 
to  her  to-night ;  I'll  tell  her  to-morrow  after 
breakfast  that  I  got  my  dinners  that  week  at 
my  brother's  house,  and  I'll  explain  about 
Red  Dolly. 

The  next  morning,  however,  it  was  rainy, 
and  it  seemed  to  Nicholas  far  too  cold  and 
cloudy  to  broach  such  a  ticklish  subject. 
After  all,  D'liss  was  aware  that  there  were  no 
grounds  for  jealousy  of  Red  Dolly  or  of  any 
one  else :  she  knew,  of  course,  that  he  had 
been  hungry,  and  had  gone  elsewhere  to  be 
properly  fed. 


74  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Delissa  was  therefore  left  hanging  in  the 
air  about  Red  Dolly,  and  was  by  no  means 
pleased  with  the  position.  But  she  had  not 
yet  learned  to  break  in  upon  her  husband's 
silence.  She  determined  she  would  put  Red 
Dolly  out  of  her  mind.  After  all,  she  had 
said  a  great  deal  too  much  about  it,  and  no 
doubt  the  General  had  maligned  her. 

It  continued  cold  and  rainy  for  several 
days.  Nicholas  was  obliged  to  set  out  each 
day  before  noon  for  Carr's  Mill.  He  was 
hauling  the  lumber  he  had  cut.  The  farm- 
work  over,  he  hauled  two  loads  before  even- 
ing. He,  of  course,  had  breakfast  and  supper 
at  his  cabin,  but  instead  of  stopping  at  Mrs. 
Reuben's  for  dinner,  he  took  a  piece  of 
something  with  him  in  the  wagon,  and  ate 
it  on  the  road.  He  was  determined  that, 
come  what  might,  he  would  give  his  wife  no 
cause  of  offence,  and  would  stick  to  her  food 
if  it  cost  him  his  life. 

The  two  Mormons,  seeing  him  pass  Mrs. 
Reuben's  cabin,  and  inquiring  his  name, 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  75 

learned  who  he  was,  and  his  hours  of  ab- 
sence from  home  while  teaming  it.  They 
took  advantage  of  their  knowledge  to  visit 
Mrs.  Barr  at  just  those  hours  when  her  hus- 
band was  absent. 

Their  visits  were  short  Ball  cooked  sup- 
per for  himself  and  Sidon,  and,  when  this  was 
despatched,  a  second  for  Delissa  and  her 
husband.  Delissa  asked  them  nothing  for 
the  dinner  eaten  ;  that  Ball  cooked  the  sec- 
ond dinner  earned,  in  her  opinion,  the  first. 

The  Mormons,  in  order  to  excite  no  dis- 
trust in  Barr's  bosom,  always  avoided  the  road 
on  which  they  would  have  met  him  with  his 
team,  and  instead  took  a  "  blaze  "  through 
the  woods  to  and  from  the  crossing. 

The  third  day  of  their  coming  Ball  under- 
took to  sound  Delissa.  This  was  experi- 
mental. He  wished  to  find  a  weak  spot. 
That  there  was  something  wrong  in  the 
household  he  felt  sure ;  for  the  very  fact 
that  the  girl  allowed  him  and  Sidon  to  come 
each  day  and  cook  two  meals,  and,  further, 


76  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

had  very  clearly  not  mentioned  the  matter 
to  her  husband,  was  proof  enough  of  this. 

First  of  all,  he  set  about  asking  her  whom 
she  knew  in  the  neighborhood.  She  replied 
that  she  was  acquainted  with  Amri  Carr 
only,  but  seeing  here  a  possible  opportunity 
for  gaining  knowledge,  she  asked  him  if  he 
happened  to  know  Miss  Stout. 

Ball  heard  something  perhaps  in  the  tone 
of  voice  which  set  him  on  the  track.  He 
answered  by  a  question  :  Did  she  know  her  ? 
No  ?  and  what  sort  of  a  woman  was  she  ? 
Well- 
Suddenly  it  flashed  across  his  mind  that  he 
had  seen  Nicholas  at  Red  Dolly's  cabin  one 
morning  as  he  himself  had  been  reading  a 
paper  on  the  wood-pile.  He  conceived  it 
likely  enough  that  the  girl's  husband,  al- 
though he  knew  Dolly  well,  had  never  told 
his  wife  that  he  knew  her ;  and  if  Mrs.  Barr 
hadn't  already  learned  that  her  husband  fre- 
quented Dolly's  cabin,  she  certainly  would 
in  the  future,  and  it  might  be  as  well  to  pre- 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  77 

pare  for  the  time  when  she  did.  He  pro- 
ceeded forthwith  to  paint  soot  black  by 
speaking  all  the  evil  that  he  could  invent  of 
Red  Dolly.  He  concluded  by  saying  that 
no  self-respecting  person  would  be  seen  near 
her  cabin ;  that  even  so  pure  and  uncontam- 
inatable  a  soul  as  Dank  Sidon's  had  felt 
her  abode  to  be  defilement. 

Delissa  sat  spellbound  now  that  she  heard 
all  this  from  an  adult  source. 

As  she  thought  it  over,  after  the  departure 
of  the  Saints,  she  grew  more  and  more  un- 
happy. The  rain  was  falling  in  torrents. 
Everything  had  gone  wrong  that  day:  she 
had  broken  her  comb  in  the  morning,  her 
looking-glass  in  the  afternoon ;  four  chickens 
had  died  just  before  dusk;  and  now  as  night 
fell  she  heard  such  news  as  this. 

During  the  next  few  days  the  relation 
between  herself  and  her  husband,  strained 
from  the  moment  when  she  had  mentioned 
the  unfortunate  Dolly  Stout,  grew  more  and 
more  distressing  and  unnatural.  He  was 


78  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

silent ;  he  was  always  silent.  Delissa  was 
afraid  to  speak.  She  would  have  given  any- 
thing on  earth  to  have  asked  him  point- 
blank  about  Red  Dolly  and  even  to  have 
begged  forgiveness  for  what  she  had  former- 
ly said,  and  then  to  have  had  him  clear 
the  whole  matter  up  with  a  few  plain 
words. 

But  a  silence  grew  up  between  them. 
They  seemed  to  drift  steadily  further  apart. 

Nicholas  had  now  enjoyed  several  days  of 
wonderfully  fine  cooking.  It  had  surprised 
him.  He  was  not  prepared  for  the  rapidity 
of  the  change.  Moreover,  it  was  regularly 
good.  The  only  matter  that  remained  in 
obscurity  was  that  the  cooking  at  breakfast 
was  invariably  poor.  However,  he  did  not 
wish  to  refer  to  the  matter  at  all ;  his  wife 
was  progressing,  evidently  doing  her  best ; 
and  in  his  slow  way  he  loved  her  for  it — per- 
haps she  was  sleepy  at  breakfast-time.  It 
was  odd  that  she  appeared  to  be  so  moody, 
however.  Well,  in  a  few  days  —  as  soon 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  79 

as  it  got  warmer — he  would  speak  to  her 
about  it. 

Delissa,  in  the  meantime,  became  more 
sensitive  each  day  to  the  deceit  which  this 
Mormon-cooked  meal  involved.  "  I  don't 
tell  him  a  lie/'  she  would  say,  "  but  I  feed 
him  lies  ;  and  I'm  a  liar !"  At  another  time 
this  would  have  been  too  much  for  her  moral 
digestion,  which  was  properly  weak.  Now, 
and  as  things  were,  the  thought  that  her 
husband  might  leave  her  forever  if  she  didn't 
cook  well,  and  the  necessity  of  keeping  him 
away  from  that  horrid,  red  creature,  made 
the  lie  seem  unavoidable.  But  her  sense  of 
guilty  falsehood,  of  stealthy  concealment  and 
subterfuge,  combined  with  the  bitter  war 
which  her  jealousy  made  upon  her  faith  in 
Nicholas,  deprived  her  of  every  shred  of 
happiness  and  peace. 

Her  work  was  a  task  heavily  undertaken 
and  wearily  done.  And  the  sleep  that  fol- 
lowed it  was  restless  and  unrefreshing.  Dur- 
ing this  period  the  girl,  herwork  being  over, 


8o  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

would  pole  herself  across  to  the  little  rocky 
island,  and  sit  there,  feeling  dreary  and  small, 
amidst  the  noise  of  the  water. 

One  such  morning,  while  she  sat  there,  the 
water  of  the  rapids  seemed  to  make  a  noise 
that  she  had  never  before  heard.  The  sky, 
with  that  one  cloud  sailing  through  it,  ap- 
peared different  to  her  from  any  sky  she  had 
ever  known  ;  and  the  motion  of  a  hemlock 
bough  to  and  fro  as  the  current  caught  and 
released  it,  caught  and  released  it  again, 
seemed  to  her  strange  and  sad.  And  those 
two  dirty  little  cabins  over  there  —  where 
had  they  come  from  ?  How  unhappy  it  all 
looked !  How  comfortless,  and  cold,  and 
gray! 

She  was  cold,  too.  She  saw  the  warm, 
yellow  light  of  the  declining  sun  far  above 
the  deep,  noisy,  lonely  gorge  in  which  she 
was. 

Oh,  if  she  could  live  in  some  place  like 
that,  where  it  was  always  warm,  and  golden, 
and  far  away  !  Yes,  she  was  miserable  now. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  81 

She  must  be  ugly,  too.  You  were  always 
ugly  when  you  were  miserable.  But  she 
couldn't  see  herself  any  more,  since  she  had 
broken  the  looking-glass.  She  knew  her 
face  must  look  horribly. 

There  was  a  small  cove  in  the  island,  a  tiny 
harbor  for  leaves  and  sailing  scales  of  buds, 
and  the  like,  and  almost  landlocked  by  a 
narrow  rib  of  rock.  Delissa  went  across  to 
it,  and,  kneeling  down,  leaned  over  this  pool, 
supporting  herself  on  her  two  hands,  which 
she  thrust  up  to  the  wrists  in  the  shallow 
water,  the  pebbles  giving  way  about  her 
fingers. 

She  looked  down  into  this  clear  mirror  with 
a  deep  sigh.  The  image  looked  sadly,  stead- 
fastly into  her  eyes — a  young  girl  in  a  blue 
dress,  pale,  and  with  soft,  yellow  hair  falling 
forward  and  about  her  face.  Delissa  looked 
long.  Oh  yes,  she  had  known  it !  She  was 
ugly  now ;  it  was  pitiable.  Her  right  hand 
moving  in  the  water  caused  ripples  to  arise, 
which  obscured  the  image. 


82  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

As  face  and  figure  slowly  and  waveringly 
reappeared,  Delissa  sighed  again  : 

"  I'm  just  as  miserable  as  if  I'd  killed 
somebody;  just  as  ugly,  too.  I  hate  my- 
self. You're  a  liar,"  she  continued,  looking 
at  her  own  reflection,  and  nodding  her  head 
slightly  towards  it.  "  You've  very  pretty  hair 
— or  you  had  once — but  you're  just  a  mean 
sneak  now;  and  you're  jealous — and  bad, 
and — you're  just  like  every  wife  I  ever  read 
of,  now — just !  and  your  husband's  left  you, 
and  he's  gone  off  to  some  other  woman — 
and  you're  alone  —  and  it  don't  make  any 
odds  whether  you  cry  or  don't!  I've  lost 
my  beauty  —  that's  what  you  have!  and 
all  my  color ;  and  you're  just  as  ugly  and 
lonely — " 

A  tear  dropped  heavily  upon  the  water, 
and  again  the  image  passed  fleetly  away  in 
ripples,  and  a  shimmering  confusion  of  bright 
colors  took  its  place.  Delissa  began  to  cry, 
but  still  held  herself  in  check  till  when  the 
image  should  grow  together  once  more  ;  but 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  83 

no  sooner  had  the  light  and  trembling  com- 
motion of  the  waters  subsided,  and  the  fair 
girlish  picture  appeared  again,  than  two  more 
tears,  hanging  from  their  lids,  dropped  to- 
gether, and  shook  the  living  mirror  and  its 
colored  shadow  into  momentary  confusion. 

Delissa  gave  a  sudden  sob,  and  cried  out : 
"  I  haven't  even  got  a  glass,  not  even ! — and 
I've  broken  my  comb,  and  he's  there  now, 
somewhere — with  her.  Oh,  I'm  so  ugly! 
I'm  so  lonely!" 

The  tears  welled  up;  she  cried  bitterly 
for  relief ;  even  after  she  had  forgotten  why 
she  had  begun  to  cry,  she  continued,  feeling 
instinctive  need  of  tears,  and  of  a  great  many 
tears — and  these  came,  accompanied  by  sobs 
which  shook  her  entire  body,  and  to  bear 
the  sudden  shocks  of  which  she  had  to  sup- 
port and  brace  herself  with  both  hands. 

Presently  she  heard  the  noise  of  the  water 
through  her  sobs,  and  through  her  own  mur- 
murs of  pain,  which  before  she  had  not 
seemed  to  be  aware  of,  and  which  still 


84  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

seemed  to  call  for  more  sobs  to  relieve  them. 
But  the  sobs  now  came  at  greater  intervals. 
The  water  had  a  comforting,  gentle  sound. 
After  a  while  it  was  over.  She  felt  as  if 
something  had  happened  —  something  had 
been  broken ;  a  spirit,  yearning  to  be  free, 
was  released. 

As  she  sat  up  it  seemed  to  her  that  the 
little  brown  brambles  about  her  were  touch- 
ing her  tenderly.  A  spray  of  green  brier 
moved  by  the  breeze  swayed  against  her 
cheek,  and  then  away  again. 

The  girl  lay  back,  feeling  exhausted, 
against  a  rock.  The  rock  held  her  so  firmly ! 
The  little,  rough  mosses  were  damp  and 
cool,  as  she  laid  her  burning  face  against 
them.  How  kind  it  all  seemed !  The  air 
was  cool  against  her  eyelids.  She  surren- 
dered herself  to  a  sense  of  lassitude,  almost 
of  peace.  Presently  she  walked  slowly  down 
to  the  boat,  and,  bending  a  moment  over  the 
flowing  water,  bathed  her  hot  forehead  with 
the  palm  of  her  hand.  It  was  the  most 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  85 

grateful,  cold  touch.  She  looked  up  and 
saw  the  fleeting,  gray  expanse  of  water. 
She  could  almost  have  thanked  the  river  for 
its  goodness  to  her. 

As  she  rowed  the  boat  across  to  the  cabin, 
she  thought  that  perhaps  to-morrow  might 
be  clear  ;  if  it  was  she  would  walk  by  herself 
to  Mrs.  Reuben's.  The  same  evening,  as 
Nicholas  ferried  his  yoke  of  oxen  and  team 
of  horses  across  the  Big  Thunder  in  a  light 
rain,  he  saw  tracks  of  men  in  the  mud  on  his 
side  of  the  river.  This  surprised  him.  He 
put  the  team  and  yoke  in  the  stable,  and,  re- 
turning, examined  these  traces  by  the  light 
of  his  lantern.  Two  men,  clearly.  Well,  he 
wouldn't  ask  Delissa ;  if  she  didn't  choose 
to  tell  him,  he  supposed  it  was  none  of  his 
business.  Queer  thing,  all  the  same  ! 

The  dinner  was  unusually  good  that  even- 
ing. Nicholas  remarked  it,  intending  to  be 
pleasant.  Delissa  flushed.  Her  husband, 
looking  at  her  more  attentively,  thought  it 
odd  that,  now  that  everything  was  at  last 


86  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

going  smoothly,  good  dinners  and  all  that, 
she  should  be  still  moody  and  flush. 

To-morrow  he  would  certainly  tell  her 
all  about  where  he  had  got  those  dinners 
— to-morrow  as  soon  as  he  had  hauled  his 
last  load,  or  at  least  he  would  if  it  didn't 
rain. 

"You're  a-growin'  to  be  a  master-cook, 
D'liss,"  he  said.  "  How  much  flour  did  ye 
mix  to  the  corn  meal  in  that  bread  ?" 

Delissa  replied  promptly  that  she  didn't 
know.  She  appeared  suddenly  to  have 
found  something  that  needed  her  undivided 
attention  at  the  far  corner  of  the  cabin. 
Nicholas  thought  he  would  find  out  who 
those  men  were. 

The  day  following  his  discovery  of  the 
foot-marks,  Nicholas  took  General  Floyd  into 
his  confidence.  He  thought  that  as  the 
General  was  a  boy  only  going  on  twelve,  he 
couldn't  have  any  sense  of  a  family  quarrel ; 
the  strained  relations  of  husband  and  wife 


o 

a 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  87 

were  all  smoke  to  him  ;  nor  would  he  be 
able  to  build  a  bridge  from  the  effect  to  the 
cause ;  he  lacked  the  knowledge  of  age  and 
years,  and  therefore  he  was  safe.  Besides, 
Nicholas,  who  was  the  most  naturally  un- 
deceitful  man  in  the  world,  knew  that  the 
General  possessed  a  devilish  wit  and  inven- 
tive genius  in  the  way  of  all  things  indirect 
and  underhand. 

He  called  the  boy  out  of  his  cabin,  where 
Mrs.  Reuben  was  as  busy  as  usual.  The  Gen- 
eral knew  by  his  uncle's  manner  that  some- 
thing important  was  in  the  wind.  He  there- 
fore assumed  an  air  of  superior  listlessness, 
and  came  slowly  out  on  the  road,  snapping 
his  knee-joints  as  he  walked.  His  jack- 
knife,  with  the  blade  opened,  was  in  his 
hand.  As  he  advanced  towards  Nicholas  he 
tossed  the  knife  lightly  in  the  air,  and  dex- 
terously caught  it  again,  all  the  while  look- 
ing at  it  with  an  expression  which  seemed  to. 
say :  You  see,  you  silly  thing,  I  can  always 
catch  you.  When  he  had  reached  the  spot 


88  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

where  his  uncle  stood,  he  looked  at  him  as 
if  he  had  just  made  the  discovery  that  he 
was  standing  there. 

"Hello,  Nic!  that  you  ?" 

Nicholas  said,  bluntly  and  fearlessly,  to 
the  boy,  who  now  stood  with  his  hands 
rammed  into  his  breeches  pockets  and  his 
eye  cocked  at  his  uncle  : 

"  There's  men  comes  about  my  house — 
comes  in  my  absence."  He  looked  inquir- 
ingly at  the  General. 

"Wife  home,  Nic?" 

"  Certainly,"  replied  his  uncle. 

"  D'ye  trust  her— alone?" 

"  Why,  concern  it — " 

"  Do  ye,  or  don't  ye,  though?" 

"  Trust  her  ?     What's  that—" 

"  Got  this  to  do  with  it !  If  she's  sound, 
means  honest,  don't  ye  know,  why,  what's 
the  odds  if  a  hundred  men  tramps  about 
her?  If  she's  not  sound — 'ain't  got  sense, 
don't  ye  know,  why — " 

"  Why  what?"  said  Nicholas,  gruffly. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  89 

"  What's  your  opinion,  anyway  ?"  said  the 
General,  imperturbably. 

"  Don't  know,"  said  Nicholas,  glumly,  and 
looking  suspiciously  at  the  General. 

"  Women's  women  al — ways,"  said  the 
General,  throwing  his  jack-knife  in  the  air 
again  and  catching  it.  "  Say  that,  don't 
they  ? — the  old  grandmas  ;  they  had  ought 
to  know  ;  they  been  women  once : — women's 
women  's  what  I've  heerd  'em  say  ;  guess 
it  means  like  sayin'  a  cat's  a  cat ; — can't 
trust  'em,  not  near  the  cream-pot,  sure  !" 

Nicholas  could  have  cowhided  his  nephew 
on  the  spot.  A  thousand  thoughts,  and  all 
of  them  argus-eyed  with  suspicions,  began 
to  shoot  like  comets  in  every  direction 
through  his  mind. 

"  What  'n  the  whole  world  did  I  ever  ask 
you  to  help  me  for?"  said  he,  at  length, 
angrily  helpless  of  any  better  answer  to  the 
boy's  insinuations. 

"  Ask  me  to  help  ye !"  exclaimed  the 
General,  in  his  shrillest  voice,  and  elevating 


go  ,  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

his  eyebrows  so  that  his  scalp  moved  back 
on  his  skull  an  inch  or  more,  as  if  his  very 
skin  were  astounded  at  such  a  thing ; — "  ask 
me  ! — ye  didn't !  If  ye  will,  I'll  help  ye, 
quick  enough." 

"  Well  ?"  said  Nicholas,  savagely. 

"  '  Well '  ain't  askin',"  said  the  boy  ;  "  not 
fair  askin',  anyway.  I  don't  give  no  hungry 
man  his  supper  for  sayin'  *  Well !'  " 

It  was  not  in  vain  that  Mrs.  Reuben  had 
drilled  her  young  savage  with  elementary 
politeness. 

"  Help  me,  then,"  said  Nicholas. 

"  Why,  I  guess  it's  those  two  Mormon- 
izers,  NIC,"  said  the  boy,  sweetly  and  con- 
fidentially. 

Nicholas  didn't  know  whether  it  was  or 
was  not.  But  in  any  case  they  must  do 
something.  The  General,  therefore,  having 
Nicholas  now  entirely  in  his  grasp,  laid  a 
plan  of  operations.  The  next  day  they 
were  to  go  fishing  together.  They  would 
take  their  rifles,  too.  He,  the  General, 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  91 

would  do  all  the  lying  that  was  necessary. 
Then  they'd  turn  up  at  an  unexpected  mo- 
ment. As  for  the  Mormonizers,  he  knew  it 
was  they,  because  they  hadn't  eaten  a  dinner 
of  Mrs.  Reuben's  for  seven  days  now  ;  they 
went  off  every  day,  and  ate,  they  said,  at  the 
mill ;  but  they  lied  in  their  throats.  He'd 
seen  'em  going  in  another  direction. 

The  General  could  scarcely  sleep  that 
night  with  desire  for  the  coming  day.  Ever 
since  his  mother  had  taken  up  with  the  two 
Mormons,  the  General  had  suffered  more 
than  he  deemed  necessary.  He'd  be  darned 
if  he  could  get  enough  to  eat  while  Old  Lick- 
chops  sat  at  table !  If  there  was  no  more 
coffee  but  one  cup,  Dank  Sidon  had  it ; 
if  there  was  one  last  biscuit,  Dank  grabbed 
it ;  if  there  was  a  little  apple-butter  only  on 
the  plate,  Dank  gobbled  it.  Dank  even  paid 
visits  to  the  apple-barrel  in  the  corn-crib ; 
he  guzzled  night  and  day!  And,  besides, 
his  hands  were  wet,  and  he  had  two  front 
teeth  wanting.  The  General  could  have 


92  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

roasted  him  alive  on  the  latter  indictment 
only. 

As  for  Fatty,  he  wasn't  so  bad ;  he  could 
play  jack-straws  (he  cheated,  though) ;  he 
was  good  enough.  But  he,  the  General, 
wouldn't  trust  anybody  who  moved  his  hands 
about  like  that.  And  look  at  his  eyes ;  he 
was  always  looking  sideways  one  way  before 
he  looked  sideways  the  other,  just  as  ifihe'd 
had  his  hand  in  your  pocket  and  wondered 
whether  you  guessed  it.  Both  of  'em  was 
dogs,  anyway. 

The  General  accordingly  passed  a  night 
made  restless  by  dreams  of  torture  and  re- 
venge. 

Early  the  next  afternoon  Nicholas  and 
the  boy  set  off  with  their  fishing-rods.  They 
floated  past  the  island,  but  as  soon  as  the 
turn  of  the  river  hid  them  from  sight,  they 
beached  the  boat  and  began  to  fish.  In  half 
an  hour  Nicholas  was  on  tenter-hooks  to  go 
back.  But  General  Floyd  would  suffer  no 
such  folly.  The  Mormonizers  must  be  well 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  93 

hooked  before  they  drew  them  in.  Nicholas 
continued,  therefore,  to  fish  savagely,  think- 
ing of  all  things  under  heaven  rather  than  of 
the  fish  he  had  caught  or  was  catching,  and, 
whether  or  no  as  a  consequence  of  this  ab- 
sent state  of  mind,  was  more  plenteously 
rewarded  with  luck  than  ever  in  his  life  be- 
fore. He  drew  out  dozens  of  fish. 

The  two  elders  came  down  the  mountain 
at  their  accustomed  hour.  The  dug-out  was 
gone,  but  the  General  had  taken  care  that 
the  "tub"  should  be  on  the  bank.  Ball 
rowed  his  brother  clumsily  across. 

Delissa  had  suffered  from  bad  dreams  the 
night  previous.  These  were  vague,  but 
troublous  and  unhappy.  She  awoke  with  a 
picture  fading  rapidly  from  her  sleep-memory 
of  Mr.  Ball  very  ill  disguised  in  Nicholas's 
great-coat,  stealing  on  her  from  behind,  and 
whispering  that  all  he  wanted  was  to  see  if 
he  could  make  a  nice  dish  out  of  her  red 
petticoat.  But  no  sooner  had  he  begun  to 
cook  it  than  Misery  had  upset  the  frying- 


94  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

pan,  in  which  the  red  petticoat  was  already 
no  bigger  than  a  little  red  bean  or  pea ;  and 
in  the  dense  smoke  that  followed  the  over- 
turning of  the  pan  suddenly  appeared  Delis- 
sa's  wedding-dress  —  all  torn,  rumpled,  be- 
smirched, and  in  rags.  Delissa  awoke  crying, 
and  still  hearing,  "  Too  bad  !"  and  yet  fur- 
ther back  in  her  sleep,  a  remote  cackle  from 
Sidon,  as  if  from  regions  of  the  air. 

When,  the  same  afternoon,  she  saw  the 
Latter-Day  Saints  coming  across  in  the 
"  tub,"  she  made  up  her  mind  that  it  would 
be  the  last  day  they  entered  the  house. 

Ball  made  unusual  despatch  in  both  the 
preparing  and  the  eating  of  his  dinner  on 
this  occasion.  His  eyes  shot  about  from 
one  object  to  another,  Delissa  thought,  with 
even  more  than  their  usual  celerity  and  sus- 
picion. Brother  Sidon  was  silent,  save  when, 
according  to  habit,  he  made  noises  with 
his  mouth.  Once,  in  a  momentary  absence 
from  the  cabin,  the  girl  thought  she  heard 
Sidon  burst  into  the  first  note  of  his  cackle. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  95 

She  started,  for  the  sound  brought  the  con- 
fusion and  fear  of  her  dream  back  to  her ; 
but  either  a  fat  hand  was  laid  quickly  over 
the  mouth  of  the  elder,  and  the  cackle  un- 
timely cut  off,  or  else  Delissa  was  nervous 
and  dreaming,  this  time  with  her  eyes  open. 
When  she  re-entered,  Sidon  was  drooping 
on  his  chair,  with  the  fingers  of  one  hand 
up  the  sleeve  of  the  other  arm,  and  on  his 
face  a  look  of  settled  spirituality. 

Delissa  wondered  how  she  had  ever  al- 
lowed two  such  men  to  enter  the  house  at  all. 

As  Ball  finished  cooking  the  second  din- 
ner, and  the  girl  had  set  the  table  and  pushed 
out  of  sight  those  plates  which  bore  the 
mark  of  use,  Misery  was  heard  miaouing  dis- 
mally at  the  door. 

Delissa  opened  the  door  on  a  crack  and 
Misery  slid  through,  accompanied  by  a  blast 
of  cold  air  and  the  sound  of  rain. 

The  girl  heard  the  tall  Saint  say,  in  a  low 
voice,  to  the  stout  one,  "  Rain  again,  Li ; 
better  put  it  off." 


96  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

There  was  no  audible  answer. 

The  fire  had  sunk  down  to  a  huge  mass  of 
glowing  wood-coals,  which  diffused  a  warm, 
colored  light  through  the  little  cabin. 

The  rafters  were  red  in  this  glow.  The 
white,  knitted  socks  and  dish-rags,  hanging 
on  the  walls  opposite  the  fireplace,  were  col- 
ored by  the  same  light. 

The  steel  cheek  of  the  axe -head  on  its 
pegs  and  the  copper  kettle  below  it  cast  a 
red  sparkle  back  to  the  coals.  Misery,  who 
sat  as  close  as  in  his  wisdom  he  deemed  pol- 
itic to  even  a  dying  fire,  was,  save  for  the 
green  lustre  of  his  orbs,  as  red  as  rust.  Even 
Dank  Sidon's  long  brown  beard  received  a 
golden  polish  or  gloss  from  the  flame  front- 
ing which  he  sat  with  his  chair  tilted  against 
the  wall ;  and  Delissa,  moving  about  erect, 
restlessly,  and  with  her  eyes  cast  down,  took 
from  the  unseen  rays  of  the  fire  a  warm, 
golden  light  over  all  her  person.  It  lay  on 
her  blue  dress,  on  her  neck  and  hands,  and 
made  her  face,  that  was  pale  of  late  with  pain 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  97 

and  anxiety,  seem  as  radiant  as  it  had  been 
in  reality  only  a  few  weeks  before. 

It  was  the  twilight  of  fire,  melting  slowly 
into  darkness  as  the  ashes  settled  and  sank. 
Moved  by  a  side  glance  from  Ball,  who  was 
busy  wiping  the  dishes,  forks,  and  knives 
which  Delissa  handed  to  him  after  washing, 
the  tall  elder  arose. 

"  The  speerit  has  fallen/'  he  said,  adding 
suddenly,  as  he  saw  Misery  rise,  hunch  his 
back,  and  yawn,  "  on  me !  Daughter,  will 
you  join  me  in  prayer?" 

Delissa  replied  that  she  felt  no  call  to  pray 
at  the  moment,  but  she  hoped  he  would  fol- 
low his  inclination.  She  refilled  the  dish- 
pan  with  boiling  water,  and  rattled  the  knives 
and  forks  about  inside  so  as  to  make  con- 
siderable noise.  The  noise  relieved  her. 

"  I  will  pray/*  said  Sidon,  seemingly  in  a 
repentant  or  depressed  condition  of  mind, 
for  he  began  in  a  very  low  voice,  not  to  say 
melancholy — "  I  will  pray  for  thee,  little 
daughter,  that  thou  mayst  be  like  cinna- 


gS  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

mon,  and  aloes,  and  incense,  and  nard — oh, 
nard — that  lend  themselves  willingly  to  the 
— oh ! — Lord's  use  !  That  thou  mayst  be  as 
sweet,  new  milk  upon  the  tongue  of  a 
Saint— " 

"In  Par'dise,"  snapped  out  Ball. 

Sidon  repeated  the  phrase  in  his  own  time 
and  with  his  own  unction,  and  began  again, 
or  rather  continued,  for  the  volume  and  flow 
of  sound  which  rushed  from  him  were  never 
wholly  silenced,  even  if  the  words  had  ceased 
or  hung  fire : 

"  May — may — be  sensible  of  the  pleasur- 
able touch  of  the  Holy  One — " 

"  As  it  were !"  ejaculated  Ball,  fiercely,  with 
a  glance  at  his  co-mate.  Sidon,  perhaps  in 
irritation,  did  not  repeat  the  correction,  but, 
stroking  his  beard  gently,  with  his  eyes  a 
trifle  closed,  and  slightly  swaying  to  and  fro, 
he  continued ; 

"  And  be,  and  feel,  and  submit  softly  to 
the  fire  of  the  love  of  the  One  Body  of  the 
True  Church,  and  that  thou,  in  fine  and  final- 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  99 

ly,  may  be  moved,  and  thrilled,  and  warmed, 
and  overcome  with  and  by  the  everlastingly 
sweet  kiss — " 

Ball  dropped  a  dish  in  the  pan  of  water 
with  a  splash,  and,  without  turning  his  head, 
snapped  out,  sharply : 

"  O'  th'  Lord !— Church's  embrace!  hm  !" 

"  Of  the  Lord !"  roared  Sidon,  slowly  and 
deliberately. 

"Tact!  Tact!  Pray  for  tact,  'postle! 
Hm  ! — we  need  tact,  sister." 

Ball  had  now  gone  so  far  as  to  call  Delissa 
by  this  title.  Sidon  had  come  to  a  grieved 
and  gloomy  pause.  He  now  added,  in  near- 
ly his  natural  voice,  though  with  his  eyes 
tight  shut,  that  he  would  pray  alone. 

"  Labor  and  prayer  are  not  in  'cord,"  he 
sighed,  with  a  glance  at  Ball,  who  was  wip- 
ing knives  and  forks  with  the  rapidity  of  a 
machine  invented  for  the  purpose.  He 
shuffled  softly  across  the  uneven  floor,  and 
disappeared  in  the  shed,  closing  the  door 
after  him. 


ioo  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Delissa  instantly  took  fright.  The  door 
was  shut,  and  here  she  was  alone  with  this 
nasty  little  weasel — with  his  fat  fingers. 

She  was  afraid  now  to  meet  Mr.  Ball's  eye, 
and  afraid  when  he  glanced  sideways  at  her, 
as  she  felt  he  was  at  the  moment  doing,  that 
he  would  read  her  fear  in  her  face. 

But  not  even  a  more  acute  observer  than 
Ball  could  have  divined  the  girl's  medita- 
tions. Her  fingers  were  moving  about  their 
work  dexterously,  rapidly ;  and  she  herself, 
erect  and  busy,  had,  if  anything,  a  rather 
dreamy  and  inattentive  look  in  her  blue 
eyes. 

"  W're  leavin'  t'-morrer  mornin',''  said  he, 
as  he  wiped  the  plate  she  put  down  beside 
him,  without  lifting  his  eyes  from  it. 

Delissa  made  no  reply. 

"  Glad  to  get  shet  o'  such  nuisances,  eh  ?" 

Delissa  said  "  Oh  no,"  rather  more  pleas- 
antly than  she  would  have  liked. 

"  Ain't  bent  any  t'ward  our — " 

"  No,"  said  Delissa,  firmly. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  101 

"  Too  bad  !  Guessed  's  much  !  You're 
too  good — hm !  don't  need  it !  yes ;  no  ; 
fact!" 

Delissa  said  that  she  didn't  pretend  to  be 
so  very  good. 

"  Don't  ye  ?"  returned  Ball,  sharply.  Then, 
sweetening  his  voice,  "  Y'  have  beauty,  any- 
way; beauty's  better'n  goodness — in  a  wom- 
an— ain't  't  so?" 

The  girl's  heart  began  beating  rapidly. 
But  she  made  no  response,  and  this  en- 
couraged the  Saint. 

" Yes,  you've  beauty;  mustn't  blush; — 
beauty's  beauty — gift  o'  God,  eh  ?  Certain- 
ly, can't  be  denied.  No,  but  it's  danger — 
it's  danger." 

Delissa,  fearing  to  be  silent,  replied,  shaki- 
ly and  at  random,  that  she  didn't  know 
much  about  such  things. 

The  Saint  began  to  tremble  down  his  fat 
legs.  He  knew  the  time  had  come. 

"Yes  y'  do,"  he  exclaimed,  "know  all 
about  such  things." 


102  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Facing  her  suddenly,  he  laid  one  hand  on 
her  sleeve.  Delissa  withdrew  the  arm. 

"  Beauty's  'traction  ;  'traction's  pleasure ; 
pleasure's  life.  Who  gives  life  ? — blessed  be 
's  name  !  Ah,  you're  beautiful ;  nobody  sees 
it ;  ah,  nobody  has  eyes  for  it ;  ah,  nobody 
praises  it — no,  they  don't.  Y'  just  waste  y'r 
beauty  cookin';  burn  it  over  th'  fire ;  kill  it 
with  carryin';  cry  it  off  y'r  cheeks  all  night. 
Ain't  't  so  ?  Know  it  is !  But  some  sees 
y'r  beauty,  some  has  eyes  for  it." 

Delissa  breathed  heavily ;  the  blood  filled 
her  face ;  her  bosom  heaved  visibly ;  her  lips 
parted ;  she  felt  a  momentary  giddiness,  and 
dropped  the  dish-rag  in  the  hot  water,  at 
the  same  time  catching  hold  of  the  ears  of 
the  dish-pan  to  support  herself.  The  young 
Saint's  eyes  travelled  rapidly  from  the  girl's 
face  over  her  entire  length,  and  back  to  her 
face  again.  He  saw  her  agitation,  and  inter- 
preted it  according  to  his  lights.  His  hand 
hesitated  in  the  air,  close  to  her  shoulder, 
without  touching  it.  "  There's  some  sees  it," 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  103 

he  continued,  hoarsely.  "  Some  has  eyes  for 
nothin'  else  in  the  world ;  some  as  'd  perish 
ruther  n'r  see  y'r  beauty  fade  out,  wash  out, 
flicker  out  like  a  candle,  leave  y'  white,  wax — 
burnt  y'rself  out  cookin' !  Ah  !  that's  it ! 
Cookin'!" 

Inspiration  had  come  upon  Sidon  in  the 
outer  shed.  His  voice  was  now  rolling  about 
to  his  heart's  content,  and  the  floor  could  be 
heard  creaking  under  his  pious  knees.  De- 
lissa  had  turned  her  head,  and  during  Ball's 
speech  was  looking  out  of  her  soft  blue  eyes 
at  the  little  man,  her  hands  still  firmly  clasp- 
ing the  dish-pan.  Ball  rushed  on,  with  bare- 
ly a  pause : 

" Y'r  beauty; — y'  know  it — why  d'  y'  hide 
it  under  bushel  ? — The  Lord — I  love  y' — y' 
know  it ;  certainly  —  you  feel  it,  I  see  you 
do."  The  Saint  wet  his  red  lips,  and  sweet- 
ened his  voice  again,  which  he  felt  had  grown 
too  hoarse.  "  Course  I  love  y' ;  look  at  your 
eyes,  look  at  your  face ;  you're  a  damn  fine 
wo — good,  religious  woman ;  certainly  ! — and 


104  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

y 're  a  beauty ! — I  can  see — oh,  I  can  see  it. 
I  love  y',  and  y'r  heart  says — don't  it  say? 
Certainly  does.  Amen!  Oh,  sister — " 

Ball  was  about  to  throw  his  arms  about 
the  girl,  but  something  in  her  face  changed 
his  purpose;  he  fell  on  one  knee,  and,  look- 
ing up  with  an  impudent  smile  on  his 
hot,  fat  face,  encircled  her  waist  with  one 
arm  and  laid  the  hand  of  the  other  on  her 
hip — Sidon  bawling  meanwhile  in  the  shed 
like  a  calf  deprived  of  its  mother's  milk. 
Delissa,  as  she  felt  the  Saint  touch  her, 
straightened  her  slight,  wiry  frame  suddenly, 
and  with  a  single  lift  and  swing  of  the  dish- 
pan,  grasped  in  both  hands,  fetched  the  side 
of  it  against  the  side  of  Ball's  head,  and,  tip- 
ping it,  spilled  the  contents — hot  water,  un- 
washed plates,  knives,  and  forks  —  over  his 
head,  face,  and  shoulders.  As  the  plates 
crashed  on  the  floor  the  little  Saint  shot  back 
with  a  yell,  bearing  the  dish-pan  with  him 
on  his  head — a  gigantic  tin  hat — which  he 
instantly  and  furiously  dashed  to  the  floor, 


A  SAINT'S  DISCOMFITURE 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  105 

and  stood  wringing  his  hands,  the  dirty  wa- 
ter dripping  and  trickling  down  from  his 
black  hair,  chin,  ears,  and  nose,  his  entire 
person,  clothed  and  naked  portions  alike, 
steaming,  and  his  mouth  sputtering  furi- 
ously. The  prayers  in  the  shed  ceased.  De- 
lissa  darted  to  the  front  door  in  anger  and 
fright.  There  she  remained,  facing  Ball,  her 
hand  on  the  latch,  fearing  both  to  leave  the 
cabin  and  to  stay  in  it.  Ball  began  to  curse 
between  his  howls  of  rage  and  pain. 

«  I'll  — I'll— baw  !— I'll— b-r-r-r— '11 !  baw  ! 
— I'm  burnt!  — b-r-r-r— '11  — you'll  see  I'll 
take  you  with  me  to-night ; — see  if  don't ! 
I'll  take  y'— b-r-r— Hell !— '11— by  God  this 
very  night!  Come  here! — b-r — damn  you — 
here!" 

Delissawas  out  of  the  one  door  as  Sidon's 
bald  head  appeared  inquiringly  at  the  other ; 
but  the  girl  tripped  upon  the  stepping-stone, 
and,  stumbling,  fell  against  a  man's  bosom. 
She  gave  a  horrified  shriek,  supposing  the 
bosom  Sidon's,  but  heard  in  an  instant  her 


io6  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

husband's  voice,  and  stopped  short,  as  if 
turned  to  stone. 

Nicholas,  with  a  long  string  of  bass,  trout, 
and  catfish  on  a  hickory  withe  in  the  one 
hand,  and  his  rifle  in  the  other,  sprang 
across  the  threshold,  shadowed  by  General 
Floyd. 

"  What  does  this  mean  ?"  cried  Nicholas, 
as  he  caught  fair  sight  of  Sidon  majestically 
entering  from  the  shed,  and  Ball,  drenched 
and  dripping,  with  the  broken  china  and 
dish-pan — which  he  knew  so  well — on  the 
floor. 

Ball's  eyes  dashed  hither  and  thither,  an- 
grily and  fearfully,  but  he  made  no  answer. 

"  D'liss,  what  's  this  mean  ?"  shouted  Nich- 
olas, roughly. 

"  Oh,  kill  him — kill  him  !"  cried  the  girl 
from  outside,  with  tears  of  rage  in  her 
voice.  This  was  all  the  evidence  and  all 
the  answer  required  by  Nicholas 

He  cocked  his  gun.  General  Floyd  heard 
the  snap,  and,  without  a  word,  fell  across  the 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  107 

long  barrel  of  the  rifle  with  both  arms,  hang- 
ing with  his  entire  weight  upon  it  and  hug- 
ging it  to  him.  Nicholas  swayed  with  the 
boy's  weight ;  at  the  same  instant  Ball  turn- 
ed to  the  door  leading  into  the  shed. 

"  Let  go !"  shouted  Nicholas,  wrestling 
with  the  boy.  General  Floyd  gritted  his 
teeth  and  hung  on.  "  Let  go  !  let  go,  ye  lit- 
tle rat !"  yelled  Nicholas. 

Ball's  hand  was  on  the  latch ;  but  Sidon, 
seeing  the  struggle  that  was  taking  place, 
and  judging  how  it  must  soon  end,  had 
thrown  his  long  body  with  all  the  haste  pos- 
sible in  the  same  direction.  The  two  col- 
lided ;  their  hands  fumbled  for  the  latch ; 
and  the  next  instant  Nicholas,  with  no  time 
to  pick  and  choose,  and  laying  about  him 
for  a  weapon  of  any  sort,  was  upon  them,  in 
his  right  hand  the  yard's  length  of  bass  and 
catfish  on  the  hickory  withe.  He  set  one 
foot  against  the  opening  door,  and  fetched 
the  entire  string  of  fish  down,  with  a  sousing 
smack,  upon  Sidon's  bald  head. 


io8  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

It  was  a  dangerous  weapon,  however  for- 
tuitous the  choice  of  it,  for  the  bass  were, 
large  and  the  catfish  had  spikes,  sharp  as 
needles  and  stiff  as  steel.  Nicholas  kept  his 
foot  against  the  door,  and  repeated  the  blow. 
Sidon  yelled  in  response.  Nicholas  hit  again ; 
while  Ball,  safe  enough  on  the  other  side  of 
his  tall  brother,  was  engaged  in  levering  with 
a  broom-handle,  which  he  had  jammed  into 
the  crack  of  the  door.  Nicholas  gave  an- 
other souse  to  the  bald  head  vainly  dodging 
about,  back  towards  him,  and  this  one  was 
heavier,  as  the  weapon  came  more  to  hand. 
Sidon  sank  with  a  loud  cackle  of  pain ;  and 
his  movement  uncovered  Ball,  who,  before 
he  could  extract  his  broomstick,  was  taken, 
full  swing  across  the  face  by  twenty  pounds 
of  fish.  He  staggered,  blinded  and  stung, 
but  dragged  his  broomstick  out  notwith- 
standing, and  began,  with  as  much  celerity 
as  any  monkey,  to  dance  and  dodge  about 
the  room,  using  the  handle  as  a  weapon  of 
offence,  poking  and  stabbing  Nicholas  in  all 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  109 

quarters,  and  when  possible  in  the  centre  of 
the  stomach. 

This  lasted  but  for  a  few  seconds,  when, 
after  an  unusually  happy  poke,  responded 
to  by  a  hard  grunt  from  Nicholas,  Ball  made 
a  dash  at  the  door.  Unfortunately,  Misery, 
who  had  hitherto  been  cowering  in  a  corner, 
was  at  that  moment  himself  bent  on  instant 
escape  from  the  danger  of  all  these  flying 
feet  and  swinging  fish,  not  to  say  from  the 
General,  who,  nearer  to  him,  had  extracted  a 
still  burning  brand  from  the  fire,  and  was  pre- 
paring to  sell  his  life  dearly.  Ball,  dashing 
at  the  open  door,  outside  of  which  stood 
Delissa  spellbound,  trod  full  on  the  cat,  and 
of  course  fell,  cursing  deeply.  The  General, 
who  was  still  between  him  and  the  door, 
shut,  bolted,  and  placed  his  back  against  it. 
He  then  flourished  his  firebrand  in  a  flaming 
circle. 

Sidon  was  risen  by  this  time,  his  bald 
head  bleeding  profusely,  and  was  about  to 
open  the  back  door  again,  when  Nicholas, 


no  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

seeing  Ball  slip  and  go  down,  caught  the  tall 
Saint  by  his  long  coat-tails,  and  swept  him 
across  the  entire  cabin ;  he  reeled  over  Ball's 
prostrate  form,  kicking  him  in  passing,  and 
brought  up  heavily  upon  both  the  General 
and  Misery.  Misery  was  by  this  infuriated 
beyond  respect  of  persons  or  power  of  mercy  ; 
he  accordingly  sank  both  claws  and  teeth  in 
Sidon's  hands,  at  the  same  time  that  the  Gen- 
eral, in  no  small  fear  for  his  personal  safety, 
rammed  the  glowing  brand  against  the  pit  of 
the  Saint's  stomach.  Sidon  arose  to  the  oc- 
casion ;  he  dashed  cat  and  brand  at  once  to 
the  floor,  and  at  the  same  instant  that  his 
mate  succeeded  in  rising  under  the  swashing 
blows  he  was  still  getting,  the  elder,  either 
in  blindness  or  desperation,  bolted  straight 
against  Nicholas. 

The  hickory  withe  of  fish  was  no  weapon 
for  close  quarters,  and  for  a  moment  Nicho- 
las was  involved  in  a  one-handed  struggle 
with  his  antagonist,  who  was  crazed  with 
both  fear  and  pain.  Delissa  was  looking  in 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  in 

at  the  window  in  a  state  of  real  horror,  and 
Ball,  now  up,  and  no  longer  having  to  ward 
the  fish  from  his  head  and  face,  seized  a 
three-legged  stool,  and,  carelessly  disregard- 
ing the  boy  in  his  rear,  prepared  to  smash 
Nicholas's  skull  as  soon  as  it  was  still  enough 
to  aim  at,  for  Sidon  and  Nicholas  were  now 
rolling  on  the  wet  floor,  while  Misery  sprang 
first  to  one  side  and  then  to  the  other,  spit- 
ting and  growling,  his  eyes  jet-black  and  his 
red  hair  on  end. 

Sidon  gave  suddenly  out,  and  fell  back 
prostrate ;  but  just  as  Ball  raised  his  stool 
for  the  blow,  the  boy  in  his  rear  took 
him  across  the  inside  of  his  knees  with  the 
iron  barrel  of  Nicholas's  rifle,  which  he  had 
seized  from  off  the  floor ;  the  blow  was 
swinging  and  heavy  ;  the  stool  flew  into  the 
fireplace  ;  Ball  himself  came  down  with  a 
smack  and  smash  upon  the  unavoidable 
Misery ;  there  was  a  stifled  waul,  and  the 
deafening  roar  of  the  rifle,  which  went  off  as 
Ball  sat  down  on  it.  And  in  the  smoke, 


ii2  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

confusion,  and  general  entanglement  of  Ball, 
stool,  gun,  dish-pan,  Misery,  Nicholas,  the 
General,  and  the  firebrand,  there  was  nothing 
whatever  to  be  seen  and  nothing  to  be  heard, 
or  no  more  than  a  series  of  groans  from 
Sidon,  prostrate;  short,  quick  half -curses 
from  Ball ;  screams  of  a  fearful  delight  from 
the  General ;  and  the  smacking  sound  of  fish, 
which  now  had  broken  loose  from  their 
wooden  hook  and  were  flying,  three  or  four 
at  a  stroke,  across  the  cabin,  as  Nicholas, 
enraged  beyond  any  knowledge  of  what  he 
was  about,  pounded  at  the  heads  he  saw 
dimly  before  him  in  the  dense  smoke  and 
increasing  darkness  of  the  room. 

It  had  long  ceased  to  be  humorous  for  any 
of  those  engaged.  Another  minute  would 
assuredly  have  brought  a  death  with  it,  for 
had  Nicholas  had  a  poker  or  a  ploughshare 
in  his  hand,  now  that  the  striking  humor  was 
on  him,  he  would  have  hammered  away  with 
as  much  heart  in  his  industry,  as  he  now  had 
with  nothing  but  loose  fish  for  a  weapon. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  113 

Sidon  was  flat  on  the  floor,  and  very  bloody. 
Ball  was  becoming  fagged.  But  Delissa, 
more  and  more  frightened,  ran  round  the 
cabin,  and,  slipping  through  the  shed, 
opened  the  back  door  into  the  room  and 
called  out  to  her  husband,  at  the  same  time 
seizing  him  firmly  by  one  arm.  In  an  in- 
stant Sidon,  who  must  have  been  waiting 
for  some  such  opportunity  of  exit,  was  up 
and  out  in  a  most  lively  manner,  followed 
staggeringly  by  Ball,  at  whose  back  Nicholas 
aimed  heavy  blows,  dragging  his  wife  across 
the  room  with  him.  He  now  shook  himself 
loose  as  he  saw  the  two  Saints  escaping, 
seized  his  rifle  from  the  floor,  and,  unbolting 
the  front  door,  pitched  out  into  the  darkness. 
General  Floyd,  who  had  become  apprehensive 
of  his  uncle's  mistaking  him  for  the  shorter 
Saint  in  the  faint  and  smoky  light,  was  be- 
side himself  at  the  thought  of  a  chase  through 
the  night.  He  followed  Nicholas  with  a  yell, 
and  Delissa  was  left  suddenly  alone  in  com- 
plete silence,  the  smoke  drifting  lazily  out 


ii4  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

of  the  darkening  cabin  into  the  cool  night, 
and  only  Misery's  claws  to  be  heard  scrab- 
bling along  the  rafters  of  the  roof. 

The  floor  was  catching  fire.  Delissa  threw 
water  on  it,  and,  lighting  a  candle,  began  to 
look  about  to  see  what  damage  was  done. 

The  Mormons,  fleeing  into  the  night,  had 
instinctively  sought  the  boats.  They  were 
both  in  the  tub  before  either  knew  of  the 
other's  being  there,  and  before  reason  had 
returned  to  them  found  themselves  several 
yards  from  the  bank  with  but  one  oar.  It 
was  too  late  to  go  back.  The  General  was 
dancing  savage  dances  of  glee  on  the  bank. 
Nicholas  was  running  up  to  where  Ball  knew 
the  other  boat  must  be  moored.  The  Saints 
had  fronted  necessity  of  a  kindred  kind  be- 
fore ;  they  took  their  chance  without  even  a 
prayer.  By  the  time  their  two  pursuers  had 
pushed  off  and  were  rowing  hard,  Ball  and 
Sidon  had  caught  the  current,  and  were  rid- 
ing the  swift  undulations  of  the  Big  Thunder 
at  a  reckless  pace. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  115 

They  scarcely  knew  their  own  danger,  and 
this  made  the  chase  a  longer  one.  But  its 
end  came:  about  a  mile  below  the  bend  of 
the  river,  at  the  foot  of  the  second  rapid, 
they  were  overhauled  in  calm  water,  capt- 
ured, and  taken  on  shore. 

In  the  colloquy  they  held  on  the  bank,  the 
two  Mormons  standing  wretchedly  before 
them — scalded,  burnt,  clawed,  bitten,  beaten, 
wet,  and  wounded  with  catfish — and  Ball 
now  having  his  hands  tied  rudely  together — 
the  General  was  imperative  in  his  demands. 
He'd  burn  'em  about  half  dead  and  let  'em 
go  !  He'd  burn  their  feet  off  'em  ; — or  he'd 
burn  their  thievin'  hands,  if  nothing  else ; — 
they  ought  to  have  their  eyes  knocked  out ; 
— come  a-foolin'  about  a  man's  wife ; — what 
did  they  think  a  wife  was  for?  He'd  teach 
'em  ; — if  they  ever  played  such  tricks  to  his 
wife  he'd  feed  'em  on  red-hot  horseshoe 
nails ! 

"  Let's  bleed  'em,"  said  he  at  last  to  Nich- 
olas, with  his  jack-knife  in  his  hand.  But 


n6  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Nicholas  was  really  concerned  only  that  they 
should  be  properly  run  out  of  the  country. 
He  set  about  devising  some  method,  there- 
fore, which  would  render  it  impossible  for 
them  to  make  a  forced  march  that  night 
and  escape  the  wrath  of  the  neighborhood. 
Take  them  back  to  his  house  he  would  not ! 
He  ended  by  taking  their  boots,  coats,  trou- 
sers, and  pocket-knives  from  them.  They 
were  then  left  to  do  what  they  pleased,  and 
go  where  they  wished. 

"Kind  o'  tethered  'em,  hain't  ye?"  said 
the  General.  "  Barefoot  tether !"  and  the  ex- 
hilaration which  this  act  of  tether  and  free- 
booty  caused  the  General  was  only  tempered 
by  his  disappointment  in  that  they  were  not 
at  least  a  little  roasted  or  bled. 

The  man  and  boy  returned  home.  Nich- 
olas said  to  his  wife  that  he  hadn't  supposed 
she'd  been  in  the  habit  of  having  so  many 
strange  men  around  in  his  absence,  and  he 
reckoned  it  wasn't  an  idea  he  could  get 
used  to. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  117 

Delissa  spoke  up  courageously  and  made 
a  clean  breast  of  the  whole  matter — the  cook- 
ing, her  misery  over  it,  the  help  Ball  had 
been,  her  fears  and  her  unhappiness,  and 
finally,  after  every  explanation  possible, 
asked  him  for  his  forgiveness. 

Nicholas  was  touched ;  but  he  was  angry 
too.  He  gave  it  to  her,  he  said,  but  after 
such  a  piece  of  false-appearing,  such  deceit 
and  lies  and  all — well,  he  didn't  know  as  he 
could  feel  forgiving. 

He  sat  down,  however,  and  ate  of  the  fish 
which  his  wife  had  prepared  against  his  re- 
turn. 

The  next  morning  the  General  took  the 
garments  of  the  Mormons,  and,  cutting  cross- 
sticks,  made  them  into  most  direful  scare- 
crows— entirely  for  his  own  amusement.  He 
planted  them  firmly  in  the  meadow,  at  some 
distance  behind  the  house,  placing  them  in 
such  proximity  and  position  with  regard  to 
one  another  that  they  appeared  to  be  hold- 
ing hands  —  and  thus  they  waved  in  the 


n8  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

wind,  looking  black,  degraded,  and  melan- 
choly. 

Later  on  in  the  day,  a  rainy  and  cold  one, 
Nicholas  and  the  boy  rode  over  to  Carr's 
Mill  and  told  their  tale.  Nothing  had  been 
heard  or  seen  of  the  Saints.  Amri  Carr 
thought  they  ought  to  be  more  lessoned  than 
they  had  been ;  lathered  with  fish  seemed  to 
him  light  enough  for  such  seducing  hypo- 
crites. A  couple  of  dozen  men,  chiefly  young, 
but  headed  by  Nicholas  and  Amri  in  person, 
were  presently  gathered  together  and  scour- 
ing the  woods.  The  Mormons  were  come 
upon  towards  evening.  They  were  in  a 
wretched  and  pitiable  state.  The  feet  of 
both  men  were  badly  wounded,  and  the 
night  and  morning  of  almost  freezing  rain 
had  absorbed  much  of  their  vitality. 

Amri  told  the  two  of  them  that  they  must 
prepare  at  once  to  depart  out  of  this  sinful 
world.  A  coil  of  rope  was  laid  at  their  feet. 
With  this  before  their  eyes  they  both  con- 
fessed that  they  had  fallen  into  sin.  They 


pa 

w 

o 

o 


I 

H 

o 


D 

C/2 

w 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  119 

begged  hard  for  life,  and  Sidon  chattered  so 
lugubriously  in  making  his  appeal,  that  Amri 
suddenly  took  human  pity  on  him,  and  hav- 
ing had  a  fire  lighted,  warmed  him  up  with 
whiskey  out  of  his  own  flask. 

"  Spry  ye  up  some  for  your  own  under- 
taking!'* was  his  cheering  remark. 

But  their  deaths  were  not  intended.  As 
soon  as  the  whiskey  had  restored  their  cir- 
culation, a  bag  full  of  old  clothing  was  pro- 
duced. Shoes  —  in  the  shape  of  moccasins 
which  General  Floyd  had  himself  cut  out 
of  skunk-skins — old,  tattered  coats,  and  a 
couple  of  pairs  of  meal -bag  trousers  were 
found  for  them,  so  that,  as  Amri  said,  "  If 
they  weren't  shod  with  humility,  they  were 
with  a  skunk-skin  moc'sin,  which  he  jedged 
to  be  pretty  nigh  to  t'other;  and  if  they 
weren't  clothed  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  they 
were  in  burlap — ought  to  do  for  a  Latter-Day 
Saint !"  ' 

They  were  separated  finally,  and  ridden 
forty  miles  away,  facing  the  tail  of  a  mule, 


120  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

and  deposited  at  the  side  of  the  road  to  go 
whithersoever  their  desires  might  point. 

During  the  day  following  "  Barr's  squall," 
as  Amri  christened  the  proceedings  of  that 
evening,  Delissa  was  an  unhappy  woman  ; 
and  when  her  husband,  returning  at  night- 
fall, preserved  the  same  countenance  and 
demeanor  of  disapproval  and  moody  sus- 
picion, Delissa  fell  into  a  state  of  despair. 
Twice,  and  a  third  time,  she  attempted, 
going  to  him,  to  take  all  the  blame  in  the 
world  on  herself,  asking  him  again  to  forgive 
her  and  begging  him  to  remember  that,  de- 
ceit as  it  had  been,  she  had  not  lied  to  him 
directly. 

This  effort  to  mollify  him  and  bring  him 
to  some  reason  was  not  successful.  Do  what 
she  would,  even  when  he  saw  her  getting 
paler  and  losing  the  happiness  out  of  her 
face,  and  at  night  heard  her  sobbing  in  the 
shed  outside  while  he  ate  his  dinner  in  si- 
lence and  alone — with  all  this  and  more, 
Nicholas  was  unable  to  change  the  current 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  121 

and  motion  of  his  thoughts,  and  this  current 
set  all  to  jealousy  and  to  suspicion,  and 
a  miserable  sense  of  things  being  broken 
that  could  never  be  mended. 

The  girl  suffered  poignantly.  It  is  true 
she  had  no  longer  any  fear  of  Red  Dolly ;  for 
that  matter,  as  well  as  where  her  husband 
had  obtained  so  many  dinners,  had  been  ex- 
plained to  her  by  the  General.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  she  felt  that  Nicholas  no  longer 
loved  her. 

What  had  come  upon  him  she  could  not 
understand.  She  tried  to  lead  him  to  ex- 
plain his  state  of  feeling.  But  his  state  of 
feeling  was  just  what  her  husband  could  least 
in  the  world  explain.  All  that  he  knew  was 
that  he  was  justifiably  indignant. 

It  was  ridiculous  that  his  wife  couldn't 
cook — had  he  not  taught  her?  Besides,  she 
was  a  woman  ;  she  must  know  how !  And 
because  she  couldn't,  she  must  invite  a  pair 
of  Mormons  into  the  house,  and  see  them 
every  day.  Not  a  word  to  him  !  And  he 


122  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

ate  the  meat  that  this  preacher  cooked  !  It 
wasn't  possible  to  live,  after  that,  as  if  it  had 
never  happened.  He  would  forgive  her;  he 
had  forgiven  her;  he  did  forgive  her;  but 
she  would  have  to  suffer,  all  the  same,  for 
what  she  had  done. 

These  thoughts  passed  through  his  mind. 
He  felt  surly  and  dissatisfied.  The  affair  had 
left  a  bad  taste  in  his  mouth. 

After  some  days  of  this  life,  Delissa,  who 
saw  no  sign  of  a  break  ahead,  began  to  order 
her  mind  somewhat  differently.  Nicholas 
was  carrying  things  too  far.  She  was  not 
the  only  person  to  blame.  It  had  all  risen 
out  of  smoke — kitchen  smoke  at  that !  Why 
had  he  not  taught  her,  or  had  his  sister  down 
to  teach  her,  to  cook?  If  she  had  slipped 
into  doing  wrong,  she  was  sorry;  you  couldn't 
be  more  than  that.  It  was  outrageous  that 
he  didn't  forget  the  whole  affair.  To  be  sul- 
len about  what?  Hadn't  she  scalded  the 
Saint  ?  What  more  could  any  man's  wife 
do? 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  123 

Delissa  argued  thus  with  herself,  going 
about  all  the  while  with  a  dead  weight  in  her 
bosom  and  her  feet  like  lead.  Yet  she  cried 
no  more,  and  ceased  asking  Nicholas  to  for- 
give her.  She  cooked  during  this  week  in  a 
way  that  would  have  choked  an  ostrich.  But 
her  husband  swallowed  doggedly  whatever 
was  placed  before  him.  This  gave  him  a  re- 
turn of  heart-burn,  and  heart-burn  increased 
his  ill  temper  considerably ;  but  he  said  next 
to  nothing. 

The  days  passed  heavily  over  them  both. 

It  was  the  early  May.  The  snows  had 
long  melted ;  the  ice  was  gone ;  the  rivers 
flowed  smoothly  down  to  the  sea.  The  flow- 
ers were  white  and  blue  along  the  sunny 
banks.  The  sap  began  to  stir  in  the  roots 
of  the  forest,  the  buds  to  swell,  and  the 
leaves  to  unfold  once  more.  The  air  was 
warm,  like  breath ;  the  breezes  blew  lightly 
over  the  earth,  and  the  cries  of  birds  passing 
again  to  the  north  dropped  down  through 
the  sunny  air.  The  fish  leaped  from  the 


124  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

river,  glittering,  into  the  sun.  The  deer 
trooped  through  the  forest,  the  fawns  and 
the  does  together.  The  sun  sprang  up  after 
each  night  out  of  clear  dawn  ;  the  first  beams 
that  he  touched  the  earth  with  were  warm. 
And  the  mists  that  lay  heavy  and  white,  fol- 
lowing the  river-beds,  arose  at  his  bidding 
and  left  the  earth,  and  lightly  ascended  into 
the  heaven,  and,  caught  by  the  upper  winds, 
were  swept  to  the  east  as  clouds,  or  dissolved 
and  passed  away  in  the  hot  embrace  of  the 
sun.  The  world  was  awake  and  alive  again. 

And  on  one  of  these  May  mornings  Delis- 
sa  went  down  to  the  river  to  draw  water.  It 
was  shortly  after  sunrise.  As  she  stood  on 
the  shingly  beach,  and  felt  the  warmth  of 
the  sun  on  her  face  and  arms,  and  heard 
overhead  the  conking  of  the  wild  geese,  she 
felt,  with  a  start,  how  utterly  all  pleasant, 
natural  things  had  passed  out  of  her  life. 

When  in  former  days  spring  had  come, 
Old  Sammy  had  always  put  a  full  bottle  in 
his  breeches  pocket,  and  taking  his  little 


H 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  125 

daughter  by  the  hand,  had  gone  out  with 
her  into  the  fields  and  woods.  They  had 
fished  together  from  sunrise  to  sundown ; 
eaten  their  lunch  on  a  log ;  and  Delissa  had 
enjoyed  herself  watching  Old  Sammy's  bob, 
gazing  up  into  the  sky  and  looking  down  on 
the  green  earth,  and  they  had  talked ;  and 
each  of  those  days  had  been  as  long  as  seven 
now.  The  new  green  was  on  the  trees,  the 
new  life  in  the  air,  but  there  was  no  new 
happiness. 

Three  wild  ducks  curved  swiftly  down  the 
Big  Thunder,  and  dropped  in  the  water  near 
the  island.  Delissa  followed  them  with  her 
eyes,  and  as  they  splashed  into  the  water  she 
took  a  determination,  sudden,  but  of  no  small 
moment. 

Nicholas  was  returning  late  the  same  af- 
ternoon from  a  trip  up  the  Greenleaf  Road. 
When  he  reached  the  river,  he  dismounted 
from  his  mule,  and  hallooed  for  Delissa  to 
pole  the  flat-boat  across. 

The  girl  came  quickly  down  to  the  beach. 


126  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

She  first  of  all  tied  the  tub  to  the  great  raft, 
laying  a  knife,  with  the  blade  open,  on  the 
boat  seat ;  then  bared  her  arms  and  swung 
the  raft  into  the  stream.  Nicholas  won- 
dered why  she  tied  the  tub  to  the  raft. 

As  her  husband  watched  her  poling,  and 
saw  the  sun  on  her  yellow  head  and  slim, 
long  arms,  and  observed  the  easy  way  in 
which  she  made  the  unwieldy  craft  obey  her, 
he  felt  a  pang  of  compunction  ;  he  was  sorry 
he  had  been  so  severe ;  to-morrow  he  would 
say  as  much — after  breakfast. 

He  was  about  to  take  the  pole  from  his 
wife,  but  she  said  she  liked  the  fun  of  it. 
Nicholas  went  to  the  stern  end  and  stood 
beside  the  mule.  He  thought  it  odd  his  wife 
should  make  such  a  wide  circle.  And  what 
in  the  world  was  she  cutting  as  close  to  the 
island  as  that  for?  He  called  to  her;  but 
the  girl,  although  she  was  facing  him,  made 
no  reply ;  she  was  throwing  all  her  weight 
on  the  pole.  They  were  nearly  broadside  to 
the  current,  and  Delissa  was  holding  straight 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  127 

for  the  island.  If  they  continued  on  that 
course  they'd  be  shipwrecked,  mule  and  all. 
Nicholas  made  a  step  forward ;  as  he  did  so, 
the  girl  dropped  the  pole  again  into  the 
water  and  threw  her  weight  upon  it,  giving 
the  heavy  raft  a  last  vigorous  shove  towards 
the  small  rocky  cove  which  she  had  once 
used  as  a  mirror.  It  was  about  ten  feet  away. 
Nicholas,  fearing  the  shock  would  upset  the 
mule,  ran  forward,  and  would  have  wrested 
the  pole  from  his  wife,  but  he  was  too  late. 
As  he  made  the  dash  towards  her  she  threw 
the  pole  in  the  river,  and  slipping  lightly  into 
the  tub,  cut  the  rope  that  tied  it  to  the  raft 
with  the  knife  she  had  left  on  the  prow  seat, 
and  pulled  away  up  current  with  all  her 
might.  The  raft  struck  with  a  crunch  on 
the  low  edge  of  rock ;  the  mule  staggered, 
staggered  again,  and  finally  half  fell,  half 
plunged,  into  the  water.  Nicholas  leaped  as 
the  raft  struck,  and  finding  himself  in  water 
up  to  his  waist,  pushed  the  raft  off  the  rock, 
and  as  it  swung  round  in  the  powerful  cur- 


128  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

rent  and  brought  up  broadside  against  the 
lower  bank,  where  it  hung  safely  in  an  eddy, 
he  looked  up  to  find  Delissa. 

She  was  some  yards  away,  and  rowing  fur- 
ther away.  The  pole  was  bobbing  up  and 
down,  already  twenty  or  thirty  paces  below 
the  island,  in  the  swifter  beginnings  of  the 
rapid.  Nicholas  shouted  to  his  wife.  Seem- 
ingly she  did  not  hear  him,  for  though  she 
was  sitting  with  her  face  to  him  and  rowing 
vigorously,  her  glance  was  directed  a  little 
off  from  the  island  and  to  one  side. 

He  shouted  again  and  threw  up  his  arms. 
He  could  see  her  plainly  enough.  Her  face 
was  warmed  with  the  exercise,  for  she  was 
bracing  herself  against  a  powerful  current. 
But  otherwise,  except  for  this  suffusion  of 
color,  her  expression  appeared  to  be  happy 
and  about  as  usual.  Nicholas  shouted  a  third 
time,  bellowing  with  all  his  might.  Delissa 
gave  no  sign  that  she  heard  him,  or  that  she 
knew  that  the  pole  was  floating  down  stream, 
or  that  the  mule  was  still  plunging  about  in 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  129 

efforts  to  mount  the  steep  and  slippery  side 
of  rock,  or  that  her  husband  was  shouting  to 
her  and  waving  his  arms,  or  that  she  had 
stranded  him  there  and  left  him  no  means 
of  getting  away.  If  anything,  her  husband 
thought,  she  looked  a  shade  more  uncon- 
scious than  usual.  As  he  stood  there,  after 
calling  the  last  time,  a  dream-like  sensation 
came  over  him :  he  felt  that  he  could  not 
possibly  see  what  he  saw ;  and  this  was  fol- 
lowed, as  he  continued  to  look  after  his  wife 
in  the  boat  and  as  she  grew  more  distant 
each  moment,  by  a  sense  that  an  unexpect- 
ed force  had  jostled  the  order  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  it  was  changing — had  changed,  all 
in  seven  or  eight  seconds  or  so.  He  felt, 
with  a  shock  and  a  giddiness — although  in 
the  dullest,  dumbest  way  possible — that  the 
laws  of  nature  were  suspending  themselves, 
and  he  was  being  left  high  and  dry  in  the 
suspension.  There  was  his  wife;  there  the 
mule ;  here,  he  ! 

He  saw  Delissa  beach  the  boat,  lay  aside 


130  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

the  oars,  put  the  knife  in  her  pocket,  walk 
slowly  up  the  path,  and  disappear  in  the 
cabin  to  the  left. 

Nicholas,  could  he  have  thrown  his  emo- 
tion into  reasonable  form,  would  have  de- 
clared that  it  was  no  miracle  or  exception, 
but  a  general  and  incomprehensible  aberra- 
tion and  going  astray  of  nature  in  her  en- 
tirety. 

The  mule  had  scrambled  up  the  rock.  To 
rescue  himself  from  this  lost  sensation,  Nich- 
olas turned  and  looked  about  him.  There 
was  not  a  stick  above  the  thickness  of  a 
switch  on  the  island.  The  pole  gone !  He 
had  made  the  raft  with  his  own  hands ;  not 
a  timber  in  it  would  budge  for  anything  less 
than  a  sledge-hammer  and  a  nail -driver. 
Even  his  jack-knife  was  not  in  his  pocket. 
The  fancy  passed  fleetly  through  his  mind 
that  his  wife  was  mad.  He  must  get  to 
shore  somehow ;  but  the  river  ran  too  swift- 
ly either  side  of  the  island  to  swim  it.  He 
Could  try  a  straight  line  to  the  cabin  from 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  131 

the  end  of  the  island;  but,  on  second 
thoughts,  no ! 

Even  in  a  boat  it  required  the  hardest  pull- 
ing for  the  first  thirty  yards.  That  he  could 
make  head  against  that  first  current,  swim- 
ming, naked  or  not,  he  more  than  doubted. 
Surely  Delissa — he  guessed  she  must  have 
gone  off  her  head  !  All  the  more  reason  to 
get  across.  He  sat  down  to  think  about  it. 
An  hour  passed. 

Nicholas  dragged  the  raft  upon  the  beach 
as  far  as  he  could  ;  it  was  too  heavy  for  one 
man  to  handle  on  dry  land.  He  looked  it 
over ;  not  a  timber  but  was  fixed  firmly  in 
its  socket ;  he  concluded  to  burn  one,  so  that 
it  would  fall  away  from  the  rest.  By  still 
further  burning  this  one,  he  would  narrow  it 
down  to  a  pole,  or  near  the  dimensions  of  a 
pole.  But  he  discovered  that  he  had  only 
three  matches  in  his  trousers  pocket,  and 
these  were  wet.  He  laid  them  carefully  on 
a  rock  to  dry  and  sat  down  to  think  it  over. 
An  hour  passed.  The  smoke  began  to  as- 


132  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

cend  from  the  "  kitchen  "  cabin.  The  smoke 
meant  dinner.  Twilight  fell.  His  wife  was 
mad,  of  course.  The  Mormons  had  wrought 
that! 

About  nightfall,  as  he  was  still  sitting  on 
his  rock,  and  looking  at  his  own  two  cabins 
and  at  the  two  Mormon  scarecrows  up  the 
meadow,  and  wondering,  with  a  vague  sense 
of  surprise  at  his  own  absence  of  feeling  in 
the  matter,  how  mad  his  wife  was,  and  if  the 
remoter  cause  was  not  Old  Sammy's  bottle, 
he  saw  Delissa  come  quickly  down  the  bank 
and  get  into  the  tub.  She  was  rowing  tow- 
ards him  !  The  mule  had  pricked  her  ears  ; 
she  now  broke  into  a  bray  of  loud  satisfac- 
tion. Nicholas  arose.  Delissa  changed  her 
course  suddenly;  she  rowed  across  to  the 
Greenleaf  side,  and  disappeared  up  the  bank. 
Mad!  mad  undoubtedly!  She  appeared, how- 
ever, again,  and  some  one  with  her :  it  was 
Amri.  Delissa  was  speaking  to  him.  They 
sat  down,  Amri  in  the  stern.  His  jolly  red 
face  was  plain,  dark  as  it  was  becoming. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  133 

Nicholas  saw  that  this  was  his  last  hope. 
He  shouted,  throwing  his  voice  through  the 
steady  roar  of  Big  Thunder.  Apparently 
Amri  could  not  hear  him.  He  raised  his 
voice  again,  and,  drawing  in  a  deep  breath, 
gave  out  a  volume  of  sound  upon  "  Oh — h, 
Amri!"  which,  despite  the  drowning  noise 
of  the  rapids  below  and  above,  must  have 
carried  three  times  the  distance.  "  He  must 
ha'  heard !"  said  Nicholas,  aloud. 

Amri's  back,  as  the  girl  rowed  him  over, 
was  slowly  turning  towards  him.  He  was 
about  to  shout  once  more,  when  the  thought 
occurred  to  him :  Amri  couldn't  be  deaf,  for 
he  saw  Delissa  talking  to  him ;  but — was  he, 
Nicholas  himself,  in  just  his  right  mind  ?  He 
was  sure  he  was.  But  not  as  sure  as  he 
would  have  liked  to  be. 

Amri  disappeared  in  the  cabin.  He  must 
be  taking  supper  with  Delissa.  When  he 
crossed  to  the  other  side  to  go  home  it  would 
be  dark — too  dark  for  Amri  to  see  him. 

The  darkness    fell  and  it  became    night. 


134  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

There  was  a  warm,  red,  flickering  glow  out 
of  the  kitchen  window.  The  stars  had  come 
out.  Nicholas  felt  chilly.  He  was  wet  from 
his  waist  down. 

It  had  not  occurred  to  him  before  that  he 
might  have  to  pass  the  night  on  the  island. 
He  now  set  about  making  the  best  of  it.  He 
took  off  his  trousers  and  socks  and  wrung 
them  out.  Pulling  them  on  again,  he  began 
a  search  for  a  comfortable  bed.  In  the  twen- 
ty yards  of  its  length  and  ten  to  fifteen  of 
its  breadth,  the  only  spot  not  dislocated  and 
roughened  by  rocks  was  the  sandy  beach. 
This  was  wet.  Nicholas  walked  up  and 
down  this  beach  for  some  time,  staring  vain- 
ly across  at  the  light  in  the  cabin  window. 

She  was  mad !  and  Amri  hadn't  seen  it  on 
her;  but  why  hadn't  he  heard?  The  idea 
that  there  might  be  something  the  matter 
with  him,  Nicholas,  began  now  to  assert  it- 
self, at  first  unobtrusively,  shyly ;  but  pres- 
ently it  seemed  to  gather  confidence  and  an 
air  of  reason. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  135 

"  I  hain't  daft,  I  hain't!"  said  Nicholas, 
still  walking  up  and  down  the  beach,  and 
speaking  aloud,  "  say  what  ye've  a  mind  to ! — 
hain't !  I  did  hear  Amri  tell  of  a  man  that 
went  cracked  —  thought  he  was  always  in 
some  other  place  from  where  he  was ;  reck- 
oned he  was  somebody  else,  too — and  was 
that  reasonable  about  it  you  couldn't  prove  a 
gol  thing  to  him ! — My  name's  Barr ;  more'n 
that,  I  am  Barr." 

This  at  first  seemed  conclusive.  But  pres- 
ently he  felt  that  it  was  very  odd  indeed  that 
he,  Barr,  should  have  such  things  befall  him 
— that  he  was  where  he  was,  or  where  he 
thought  he  was ;  and,  too,  his  mind  began  to 
revert  to  the  past.  All  the  last  three  weeks 
had  been  of  a  nature  that — that — well,  they 
hadn't  certainly  seemed  like  any  other  weeks ; 
and  he  himself — he,  Barr — he  hadn't  seemed 
to  himself,  to  Barr,  as  much  like  Barr,  as 
much  like  the  Barr  that  Barr  was  accustomed 
to  know  and  deal  with,  as  he,  Barr  himself, 
would  like  to  have  done.  That  former  Barr 


136  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

— the  Barr  of  better  days — had  never  been 
unkind  to  a  woman ;  not  even  to  the  first 
Mrs.  Barr,  who,  Heaven  and  the  former  Barr 
to  witness,  had  been  a  trial.  He'd  never 
been  sulky  or  unhappy  in  those  times.  All 
the  Mormons  in  the  world  couldn't  exactly, 
somehow,  account  for  that !  He  wasn't  a 
changed  man ;  he  was  another  man ;  and 
here  he,  this  other  man,  this  later,  unhappier 
Barr,  sat — or  at  least  he  thought  he  sat  here; 
if  he  didn't,  somebody  did  !  And  he  knew 
it  wasn't  the  first  Barr,  for  the  first  Barr  was 
happy. 

He  might  be  who  he  would — he  was  a  man 
sitting  there,  cold  and  wet.  It  wasn't  very 
sound  to  say  so — whichever  Barr  he  was,  he 
certainly  was  one,  and  a  man — but  assured- 
ly it  began  to  appear  to  him  that  he  was  two 
people  inside  of  himself:  One  was  cold  and 
was  having  the  hell  of  a  time,  and  the  Other 
didn't  care  a  damn  whether  he  was  or  not. 
And  this  Other  One  sat  somewhere  else, 
outside  of  all  the  trouble,  and  was  nasty  if 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  137 

he  pleased  to  be,  and  said  things — who  the 
devil  was  that  Barr  ? 

Nicholas  felt,  as  he  shivered  from  cold, 
that  he  must  stop  these  thoughts.  He  went 
over  to  the  mule  and  patted  her.  He  felt 
more  himself  after  that.  About  an  hour 
later,  finding  the  mule  lying  down  among 
the  briers,  the  idea  occurred  to  him  that  he 
might  just  as  well  share  her  animal  warmth  ; 
he  accordingly  lay  down,  first  tenderly  strok- 
ing the  object  of  his  apprehension,  in  the 
only  position  possible,  namely,  between  the 
beast's  legs.  He  reposed  here  in  a  cramped 
position  about  an  hour  in  safety.  But  either 
he  made  a  careless  motion  or  else  the  mule 
objected  to  sharing  her  animal  warmth ;  at 
all  events,  she  struck  out  in  the  dark,  and 
Nicholas  found  himself  at  some  distance,  in 
a  patch  of  greenbrier,  and  with  a  sense  of 
having  had  two  tons  of  coal  fall  on  his 
back. 

He  said  nothing  whatever.     But  he  lay 
alone  for  the  rest  of  the  night. 


138  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

Day  dawned,  chilly  and  gray.  The  sky 
was  cloudy.  Before  sunrise  it  began  to 
rain. 

Nicholas  was  hungry,  and  sore  from  the 
mule's  treatment.  It  seemed  to  him  also,  as 
the  mule  whinnied  hungrily  at  him,  a  peculiar 
aggravation  of  his  already  sufficient  misery 
that  this  chattel  and  beast  of  his  first  wife's 
should  have  acted  as  she  had  during  the 
night. 

The  day  moved  slowly,  and  Nicholas  be- 
gan to  experience,  as  his  hunger  increased  in 
sharpness,  a  reaction  from  the  listlessness 
and  mental  confusion  of  the  night  before. 
He  felt  alert  in  mind,  and  able  to  endure  any- 
thing. He  warmed  himself  by  jumping  up 
and  down,  and  throwing  his  arms  about, 
under  and  over  his  shoulders. 

For  two  hours  before  noon  and  for  two 
hours  after  the  rain  fell  in  torrents.  It  slack- 
ened then,  and  presently  the  clouds  were  lift- 
ing. As  this  happened,  it  grew  colder,  and 
the  man  was  obliged  to  clamber  up  and  down 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  139 

the  rock  in  order  to  keep  warm.  It  soon  be- 
came out  of  the  question  to  do  so.  His 
clothing  was  too  wet ;  he  grew  colder  every 
moment,  and  began  to  suffer  from  his 
thoughts.  When  he  tried  now  to  face  the 
situation,  and  to  realize  that  he,  Nicholas, 
was  here  on  a  rock,  drenched,  hungry,  cold, 
deserted  by  his  wife  ;  that  this  wife  was  mad, 
or  he  was ;  or,  if  not  that,  then  one  of  him 
was — at  all  events,  that  he,  a  man,  Barr, 
might  have  to  die  there,  or  risk  the  forlorn 
hope  of  swimming  the  rapids : — when  he  faced 
these  facts  his  mind  balked  at  them  ;  he  felt 
himself  grow  giddy;  the  world  of  reality, 
so  stern  and  steadfast  upon  all  other  occa- 
sions, seemed  to  him  to  tremble,  quiver,  and 
melt  into  a  mist  of  absurdity  and  inconse- 
quence. 

A  little  later  on  his  mind  gave  up  the 
struggle.  It  no  longer  made  the  slightest 
effort  to  realize  anything;  it  acquiesced  in 
the  facts  of  the  case.  He  found  himself 
thinking  it  as  natural  as  possible  to  be  where 


140  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

he  was  and  as  he  was ;  it  seemed  to  him  he 
had  been  there  a  year.  He  was  beginning 
to  feel  numb  with  the  cold,  when  he  thought 
he  saw  a  man  in  the  dense  brushwood  at  the 
far  end  of  the  meadow.  There  were  two  of 
them.  Nicholas  started  up  and  was  at  once 
in  high  hopes  of  relief.  But  an  hour  passed 
without  any  further  appearance.  At  the 
end  of  the  hour,  and  as  Nicholas  was  still 
staring  in  expectancy,  his  jaw  dropped,  his 
eyes  widened,  he  caught  himself  by  both 
legs,  and,  breathing  fast,  gave  himself  a  slap 
on  the  forehead. 

"  'Tain't  so  !  'Tain't  them  two — again  ? 
I'm  a  goner :  I  see  nothin'  as  it  is." 

He  winked  as  he  continued  to  gaze.  The 
two  Latter-day  Saints  came  out  from  behind 
the  cabins,  holding  stools  in  their  hands. 
Delissa  was  between  them.  Nicholas  no- 
ticed that  the  Generals  scarecrows  had  dis- 
appeared; but  they  were  not  merely  gone — 
the  two  Saints  were  draped  in  them,  as  be- 
fore. He  had  no  recollection  of  whether 


'IT   SEEMED   TO    HIM    HE   HAD    BEEN   THERE   A    YEAR" 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  141 

the  scarecrows  had  been  wanting  for  an  hour 
or  for  all  the  morning. 

Nicholas  staggered  as  he  looked.  He  shut 
his  eyes  a  moment,  and  then,  opening  them 
wide,  stared  across  the  river.  He  heaved  a 
deep  groan. 

'"Tain't  so!— but  'tis!  I'm  cracked- 
sprung  !  Oh,  I'm  loose !  God-a-mighty, 
what  a  thing  to  see !" 

He  made  his  way  slowly  up  the  island. 
When  he  had  reached  the  bushy  crown  of 
the  rock,  he  turned  about  with  a  sad  look  on 
his  heavy,  large  face. 

The  sun  had  just  come  out  from  behind 
an  enormous  white  cloud,  and  shot  a  broad 
shaft  of  light  down,  illuming  the  green 
meadow,  and  presently  the  two  cabins  and 
the  bank  of  the  river. 

Delissa  was  now  seated  on  a  stool,  on  the 
grassy  bank  which  glittered  in  the  sun  ;  on 
her  left,  close  to  her,  sat  Mr.  Li  Ball ;  a  little 
farther  off,  on  her  right,  Dank  Sidon,  his 
long  legs  crossed  one  over  another.  Delissa 


142  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

had  her  violin  and  bow  in  her  hand.  Both 
the  men  had  their  backs  turned  towards 
Nicholas,  and  were  facing  Delissa. 

Nicholas  propped  himself  against  a  wet 
rock ;  he  swallowed  two  or  three  times,  and 
seemed  to  gather  himself  together,  keeping 
his  eyes  upon  the  ground  at  his  feet. 

"  Now  be  yourself,  Nic !    Seein'  is  seein' !" 

He  lifted  his  eyelids  and  looked  once 
again.  He  could  see  the  three  people  more 
distinctly  than  at  first,  because  of  the  sun- 
light. Delissa  had  on  her  blue  dress.  It 
was  tucked  up  for  work ;  her  yellow  hair, 
looser  than  usual,  fell  over  her  shoulders ; 
her  arms  were  bared  to  the  elbows,  as  if  for 
washing ;  and  she  was  now  playing  the  vio- 
lin, of  which,  on  account  of  the  noise  of  the 
waters,  no  sound  could  reach  Nicholas. 

He  could  see  nothing  of  the  men's  faces. 
But  he  made  out  that  Ball  was  restless  on 
his  stool,  and  that  his  hands  were  flying 
about  in  a  crazy  sort  of  fashion. 

Sidon   sat   without   a   motion.     Nicholas 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  143 

had  forgotten  that  he  had  such  breadth  of 
back;  but  then  he  had  never  fairly  seen 
either  of  them  when  they  were  clothed. 

He  at  length  threw  his  hands  in  the  air, 
with  a  gesture  of  giving  up  everything,  once 
for  all.  v 

"Same  durned  ident'cal  palaverin'  Mor- 
mon spew-trash.  Look  at  'em !  Is  that 
ghosts?  Is  that  nothin'?  Is  them  two 
smoke?  Air?  Things  that  ain't  so?  That's 
the  little  chunk,  and  that's  the  baldheaded 
worm  :  them's  them,  and  yon's  her.  I'm  my- 
self :  I  see." 

At  this  point  in  the  realization  of  his  own 
sanity  of  vision  and  brain,  Nicholas,  gazing 
steadily,  saw  Delissa  lay  her  violin  aside, 
and  at  the  same  moment  Ball  leap  from  his 
stool  and  embrace  the  girl,  somewhat  sud- 
denly and  roughly,  but  in  a  fashion  nothing 
less  than  impassioned. 

Nicholas's  heart  pumped  a  bucket  of 
blood  into  his  head  in  about  five  seconds ; 
and  in  another  moment  he  found  himself  in 


144  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

the  Big  Thunder,  striking  out  and  kicking 
with  might  and  main,  the  current  bearing 
heavily  against  him.  He  swam  with  all  the 
force  he  had ;  but  the  tide  of  the  river  was 
too  strong  to  stem.  After  a  very  few  min- 
utes, Nicholas,  under  the  influence  of  violent 
exercise  and  an  achingly  cold  bath,  recov- 
ered his  reason,  and  allowed  himself  to 
swing  back  to  the  island. 

Without  once  looking  round,  he  walked, 
dripping,  to  the  farthest  point  of  the  rock, 
facing  from  his  cabin  and  towards  the  turn 
of  the  river,  and  there  sat  down,  with  his 
back  to  the  performance  on  the  bank. 

He  knew  now  that  he  was  himself  well 
enough.  After  half  an  hour  he  spoke,  de- 
liberately, aloud : 

"  Matter  with  me  is,  I'm  a  fool.  I've  just 
done  this  thing  to  myself — just  plum  cut 
my  own  throat.  Might  ha'  known  Delissa 
couldn't  cook ;  might  ha'  had  Reuben's  wife 
come  and  lessoned  her  some,  first  thing ; 
might  ha'  done  anything  sensible !  Matter 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  145 

is,  I've  treated  her  like  a  dog !  Why  didn't 
I  forgive  her  when  she  asked  ?  Why  didn't 
I  kiss  her,  and  say,  *  Sho !  forget  it  ?'  Why 
didn't  I—?" 

Nicholas,  at  the  end  of  an  hour,  was  in 
the  condition  of  mind  where  he  seemed  to 
himself  to  have  done  everything  wrong  and 
nothing  right  since  the  day  he  allowed  his 
mother  to  bear  him ;  especially,  however, 
he  blamed  himself  for  his  sullenness  and 
suspicion  in  the  last  few  days,  for  of 
course  that  was  the  cause  of  his  wife's 
action.  He  now  supposed  her  to  be  quite 
mad,  or  in  the  nature  of  mad,  and  he  was 
the  cause  ! 

If  he  could  take  only  a  couple  of  steps 
back  into  the  past,  and  turn  and  make  a 
fresh  start  in  time  from  thence.  But  the  past 
was  like  a  wall  that  built  itself  level  behind 
your  last  heel-track,  and  be  darned  to  ye  if 
you  could  even  edge  back  a  hair's-breadth  ! 
Nicholas  shook  his  head.  Had  it  not  been 
for  his  devouring  hunger  and  the  numbness 


146  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

of  cold,  he  would  have  felt  the  most  violent 
grief.  As  it  was,  he  felt  that  he  would  feel 
it  later  on. 

Had  he  looked  around,  as  now  the  sun  be- 
gan to  sink,  he  would  have  seen  Delissa  lay- 
ing the  oars  in  the  tub,  while  Ball  danced 
wildly  on  the  bank  above. 

Delissa's  face  was  grave  and  drawn.  The 
corners  of  her  mouth  turned  down,  and  she 
had  a  look  as  if  she  doubted  not  but  that 
the  next  moments  would  bring  forth  some 
ill  thing. 

"  Come  along  now,  General ;  quit  your 
flummaxin'  about !" 

It  was  the  voice  of  Amri  Carr  proceeding 
from  under  the  hat  and  from  above  the  coat- 
collar  of  Sidon. 

General  Floyd,  who  was  dancing  with 
hideous  violence  on  the  bank,  to  keep  his 
youthful  body  warm  in  the  wet  clothes  of 
Li  Ball,  dashed  down  to  the  boat.  He  sat 
down,  the  little  Saint's  seedy  black  hanging 
loosely  about  his  limbs,  the  sleeves  too  long, 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  147 

and  the  hat  falling  down  over  his  nose  and 
ears. 

Amri  pushed  the  boat  off,  and  in  another 
moment  they  would  touch  the  island. 

"  Oogh  !  Bet  Nic's  cold  !"  whispered  the 
boy,  with  his  teeth  in  a  chatter. 

Delissa  seemed  to  grow  pale. 

"  He's  learned  a  mighty  smart  lesson," 
said  Amri,  as  he  ran  the  boat  up  on  the 
sand. 

Delissa  nodded  to  Amri  to  go  across  to 
where  they  could  see  Nicholas  was  sitting 
with  his  back  still  turned. 

Amri  and  the  General  went  across.  The 
girl  stayed  in  the  boat,  her  back  turned  to 
the  island  and  to  her  husband,  resting  her 
face  on  her  hands,  shivering  and  trembling 
all  over  as  if  with  cold. 

"  I  wish  I  hadn't  done  it,  now — I  wish  I 
hadn't,  wish  I  hadn't !" 

Her  teeth  chattered  and  broke  the  words. 
Reaching  the  far  end  of  the  little  island, 
Amri  laid  a  hand  on  his  friend's  shoulder. 


148  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

"  Rise  up,  NIC  ;  come  over  to  your  wom- 
an.'* 

Nicholas,  looking  up,  took  the  situation  in 
at  a  glance. 

"  You  'ain't  been  playin'  the  fool  up  and 
down  here,  hev  ye  ?"  said  Amri,  with  a  kind 
of  blustering  sternness.  "  G'  over  to  her ; 
say  you're  naught  but  a  man  ;  and  man's  a 
fool,  as  God  made  him,  so  help  ye !  Go  ; 
make  your  'mends." 

Nicholas  got  up  stiffly,  with  the  same 
look  of  penitence  and  sorrow.  The  discovery 
that  he  had  been  hoaxed  appeared  to  have 
no  effect  upon  his  change  of  heart.  Amri, 
taking  a  look  at  him,  relaxed  suddenly  into 
something  of  his  accustomed  joviality. 

"  Darned  if  your  Creator  ain't  playin'  a 
mighty  square  game  with  you,  Nic  Barr ! 
Mark  my  words,  He  don't  always  undertake 
to  play  so  square." 

Nicholas  went  across  to  the  boat. 

Amri  and  the  boy  engaged  themselves 
with  the  mule  and  the  raft. 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  149 

As  her  husband  approached  from  behind, 
Delissa  heard  his  footsteps.  She  caught  her 
breath  once  or  twice  and  closed  her  eyes. 
Nicholas  stepped  into  the  shallow  water  be- 
side the  boat. 

"  Forgive  me,  D'liss." 

Delissa  made  no  answer.  Her  eyes  were 
tightly  shut.  Her  husband  groaned. 

"  I've  done  wrong  a  heap ;  I  was  mighty 
crabbed  and  cross  —  I  know  I  made  you 
mis'able.  But  if  you  have  any  love  left  in 
your  heart  for  me,  D'liss — why,  just  say  it." 

Delissa  sat  rigid  as  an  axe-handle ;  but  she 
gave  a  sob,  and  then  suddenly,  without  mov- 
ing her  head,  stretched  her  arms  out  to  the 
man  bending  over  her,  much  as  if  she  had 
been  a  little  child ;  and  rising  from  her  seat 
at  the  same  moment,  she  leaned  towards 
him.  Nicholas  caught  her  as  with  the  shift- 
ing of  her  weight  the  boat  tipped  and  spilled 
her  out.  He  lifted  her  up  and  kissed  her  face, 
which  was  wet  with  tears.  Delissa  sobbed 
again  and  again. 


150  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

"  Oh,  Nic,  I  want  to  be  forgiven  my  own 
self — please,  please  do  !" 

The  tub  had  begun  to  float  away,  and  as 
the  girl  had  stepped  deliberately  into  the 
river,  they  both  found  themselves  standing 
up  to  their  ankles  in  water. 

The  General  made  a  dash  at  the  boat, 
which  was  floating  round  the  island. 

"  Y'ever  see  a  man  get  with  a  woman," 
said  he  to  Amri,  as  he  captured  it,  "  without 
he  made  a  fool  of  himself?  Burn  me  if  I 
want  to  be  a  man,  if  every  time  I  meet  my 
wife  I  lose  my  senses.  Can't  he  kiss  her  and 
grab  the  boat  with  the  other  hand  ?  What's 
the  pleasure  of  their  standin'  up  to  their 
knees  in  ice-water  fur  ?" 

"  It's  awful  cold,"  said  Delissa,  shivering, 
through  her  tears,  and  drawing  one  foot  out 
of  the  water.  "  Let's  get  out." 

Nicholas  set  her  on  the  little  sand  beach. 

"  May  I  never  see  light  again,"  said  Amri, 
"if  I  didn't  tell  that  man,"  pointing  at 
Nicholas,  "that  you  couldn't  cook  —  not 


Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety  151 

enough   for  a — for  to   make   rations   for  a 
grasshopper  !  And  what's  his  answer  ?  Why 
he  said  you  had  a  face  !     Just  as  if  a  woman 
cooked  flapjacks  with  her  face !" 

Amri  laughed  in  his  huge  way. 

At  supper  Delissa  would  say  nothing. 
Nicholas  learned  from  Amri  of  his  wife's 
scheme  to  bring  him  to  reason,  and  of  the 
General's  plan  of  wearing  the  scarecrows — 
but  Nicholas  cared  to  hear  no  more.  He 
was  content  with  things  as  they  were.  He 
promised  his  wife  that  he  would  drive  her  to 
Mrs.  Reuben's  the  next  day.  They  would 
bring  Mrs.  Reuben  back  with  them  to  stay 
for  a  fortnight. 

"  Well,"  said  Amri,  as  he  pulled  off  his 
boots  and  prepared  to  retire  to  his  couch  of 
a  bear-hide  stretched  on  the  kitchen  floor — 
"well,  I  say  let  a  man  be  a  man.  Let  him  be 
just  as  dangerous  as  a  wild  pig.  If  he  wants 
a  woman,  let  him  take  her — root,  hog,  or  die  ! 
But  what's  that  got  to  do  with  bawlin'  about 
Solomon  and  all  his  hundreds  of  cucumbers  ! 


152  Two  Mormons  from  Muddlety 

— Begosh !  as  sure  as  a  hog's  a  hog,  a  Mor- 
mon's one!" 

The  next  morning,  after  breakfast,  De- 
lissa  came  up  to  Nicholas.  She  looked  fresh 
and  pink. 

"  NIC,  don't  you  think  we  might  take  a 
holiday — just  to  be  happy  in  ?" 

Nicholas  thought  they  might. 

"If  we — couldn't  we — well,  it  would  be 
nice  if  we — do  you  think  we  might  ?" 

Nicholas,  after  a  moment  or  two  of  puzzle- 
ment, laughed  suddenly,  and  said  he  thought 
it  would  be  just  the  thing.  He  went  back 
to  the  cabin  to  fetch  the  fishing-tackle. 

They  started  before  the  sun  struck  the 
water. 

"Nic,"  said  Delissa,  as  the  boat  glided 
down  the  swift  current,  "  I'm  just  awful 
happy!" 


ALFRED'S  WIFE 


CARR'S  MILL  stood  opposite  that 
point  where  the  Squeeter  and  Som- 
erdale  roads  met  and  crossed.  Whichever 
of  those  roads  you  took,  making  for  Carr's 
Mill,  you  had  ten  or  fifteen  miles  of  unbroken 
forest  to  go  through,  until,  as  you  began  to 
descend  towards  the  mill,  you  saw  it  lying 
beneath  you,  in  the  midst  of  green  meadows. 
Through  these  green  meadows  the  Big  Swift 
flowed  placidly. 

Next  to  the  mill  stood  Brown's  store.  The 
mill  was  old  and  ramshackle,  and  leaned 
perilously ;  moss  grew  on  its  roof ;  and  the 
dust  of  the  flour,  whitening  it  everywhere, 
gave  a  look  of  soft  and  withered  age  which 
brought  it  into  fine  contrast  with  Brown's 
store.  The  latter  was  of  new  pine  boards, 
and  looked  spick  and  span,  and  even  jaunty. 


156  Alfred's  Wife 

You  expected  to  see  Brown  step  prosper- 
ously out,  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets, 
whistling  a  waltz ;  but  when  Brown  stepped 
out  it  was  otherwise,  for  he  was  thin  and 
pale  and  dejected ;  he  seemed  to  have  under- 
gone premature  dry-rot,  and  there  exhaled 
from  him  a  faint  odor  of  staleness,  much  as 
if  he  had  been  born  and  reared  under  the 
glass-case  with  his  own  candies.  When  he 
walked  he  fell  forward,  first  upon  one  spindle 
leg  and  then  upon  the  other ;  when  he  sat 
down  it  was  a  kind  of  general  collapse ;  and 
except  when  he  added  up  figures,  which  he 
did  easily,  seeming  almost  to  take  a  kind  of 
pleasure  in  stating  "  results,"  he  had  an  in- 
effectual, heartless  way  of  producing  his  voice 
and  his  ideas.  Mr.  Brown  came  originally 
from  "  old  "  Virginia,  and  would  have  liked  to 
return  there ;  but  somehow  or  other  he  had 
got  stranded  in  this  remote  quarter  of  the 
West  Virginia  forests,  and  here  he  complain- 
ingly  remained.  Amri  Carr,  who  worked  the 
aged  and  groaning  structure  called  by  his 


Alfred's  Wife  157 

name,  was  a  weighty,  rubicund,  jovial  body, 
with  a  roll  in  his  gait  and  in  his  voice,  and  a 
way  of  puffing  his  cheeks  out  and  blowing 
after  each  separate  sentence,  as  if  his  ideas 
were  a  fleet  of  ships  which  he  sent  out  tow- 
ards you,  and  which  he  then  followed  up 
and  sped  on  with  a  hearty  breeze  from  his 
own  lips.  Carr  had  a  wife  and  eleven  chil- 
dren. His  "  house/'  a  log  cabin  like  all  the 
other  domiciles  of  the  locality  except 
Brown's  board  store,  stood  a  half-mile  below 
the. mill. 

Mr.  Brown  reclined  on  his  store  steps. 
Below  him  sat  Captain  Dan  Crossby.  The 
rumble  of  the  mill  and  the  warm  sunshine 
predisposed  to  silence,  and  silence  was  strict- 
ly observed  till  a  man  on  a  black  mule  rode 
up  to  the  store,  and,  without  dismounting, 
handed  down  to  the  storekeeper  a  bag  of 
meal.  It  was  payment  in  kind,  for  no  one 
had  money  in  that  district. 

The  man  on  the  mule  was  a  thick-set,  pow- 
erful, red  -  faced  fellow  of  about  forty  ;  his 


158  Alfred's  Wife 

jaw  and  cheeks  were  covered  with  short, 
black  stubble,  and  his  eyes  were  bloodshot 
and  restless. 

"  Thank  you,  Mr.  Stott,"  said  the  store- 
keeper. "  Thank  you.  Come  again  ;  do. 
How's  your  folks?  Well  or — " 

Mr.  Brown's  voice  died  feebly  away. 

Mr.  Stott  said  his  sister  Sarah  was  ailing, 
but  the  chaps — meaning  his  three  little  girls 
— they  were  well  enough.  He  jogged  off  up 
the  road. 

After  the  lapse  of  about  five  minutes,  Cap- 
tain Crossby  spoke  to  the  storekeeper. 

"  I  do  everlastingly  have  no  belief  in  that 
Hiram  Stott." 

"No?"  said  Mr.  Brown. 

"  And  he  knows  it,"  continued  Captain 
Crossby. 

"Yes?"  said  Mr.  Brown. 

"And  I'm  not  feelin'  hurt  any  that  he 
does,"  continued  the  captain. 

"  Ain't  you  ?"  said  the  storekeeper. 

Silence  settled  down  again. 


Alfred's  Wife  159 

"  What  in  the  world  Alfred  Bannerman 
ever  undertook  to  marry  with  that  Carr  girl 
for,  that's  what  worries  me  to  see  into.  Can 
you  see  into  that  ?"  inquired  Captain  Cross- 
by,  as  if  this  question  and  his  former  state- 
ments of  his  feelings  were  in  some  way  rel- 
evant and  connected. 

Mr.  Brown  avouched  that  he  could  see  into 
nothing  very  far ;  but  with  some  feeling  that 
this  was  rather  weak  of  him,  he  said,  with  a 
spasmodic  effort  at  sympathy : 

"  Don't  it — add  up — to  you  ?" 

Captain  Crossby  was  not  much  concerned 
with  sums  in  addition,  and  made  no  reply, 
but  continued,  with  his  eyes  on  the  lessening 
figure  of  Mr.  Stott : 

"  You'd  better  not  fool  about  Alfred.  If 
you  fool  about  Alfred,  the  first  thing  you 
know  he'll  be  in  attendance  at  your  funeral." 

Captain  Crossby  looked  slowly  around  at 
Mr.  Brown,  and  the  latter  shrank  perceptibly 
from  any  idea  of  fooling  with  Alfred,  in  the 
light  of  such  probabilities. 


160  Alfred's  Wife 

"  Now,  women's  women/'  continued  Cap- 
tain Crossby;  "and  a  woman's  a  mis'able 
thing  at  best ;  they're  always  makin'  trou- 
ble, and  fussin'  or  cookin'  up  a  fuss; 
and  to  marry  a  woman — hit's  no  little  mat- 
ter. But  to  marry  a  woman  that  calls  her- 
self Carr!" 

Captain  Crossby  shook  his  small  gray  head 
at  this  desperate  idea. 

"  They're  a  wild  lot,  you  think,  eh  ?"  said 
Mr.  Brown,  tentatively,  and  as  if  he  were 
treading  on  dangerous  ground. 

"  Wild  ?"  said  Captain  Crossby.  "  Wicked, 
I  reckon ;  as  wild  and  wicked  as  hawks ;  and 
I  guess  Alfred  he  wishes  his  wishes — I  guess 
he  does,"  said  Captain  Crossby,  clearly  medi- 
tating the  sort  of  wishes  he  himself  would  be 
apt  to  wish  under  such  circumstances. 

"  There's  Amri,"  he  continued.  "  He  said 
to  Alfred,  '  Alfred,  tame  her,  or  she'll  tame 
you !'  I  heard  him  say  it  the  day  Alfred 
wedded  his  daughter.  And  Alfred  he  just 
won't  undertake  the  job." 


Alfred's  Wife  161 

The  little  old  man  rose  and  proceeded 
home,  pondering  upon  Alfred  as  he  went. 

"  If  Alfred's  mother  had  fed  him  on  snake- 
pizen,  he'd  have  turned  it  into  milk  and 
honey  fust  thing  she  knew !  As  for  Hiram, 
he  wants — "  Captain  Crossby  closed  his  eyes 
entirely,  and  nodded  his  head  slowly,  as  if 
possessed  of  the  most  intimate  knowledge  of 
Hiram's  "  wants  "  ;  and  from  the  general  ex- 
pression of  his  face  as  he  shuffled  dustily 
along  the  road  one  would  have  judged  that 
he  would  have  been  by  nothing  more  pleased 
than  freely  to  give  Hiram  whatever  thing  it 
was  that  Hiram  —  always,  however,  in  his 
(Captain  Crossby's)  estimation — wanted. 


II 


The  next  morning  the  captain  saddled  his 

horse  and  rode  up  to  see  Alfred  Bannerman. 

Alfred  lived  twenty  miles  away.  His  farm 


162  Alfred's  Wife 

was  a  new  clearing — his  own  work — lying  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Highland  Ridge.  The 
log-cabin  was  high  up,  almost  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  great  hill.  Except  the  stable,  a 
heavily  built  shed  something  ruder  than  the 
cabin,  and  a  pigpen,  there  was  nothing  else 
in  the  way  of  building.  As  further  sign  of 
life  there  was  the  corn,  growing  meanly  now, 
withered  in  its  broad  blades,  and  turning 
over;  the  plot  where  potatoes  had  not 
flourished  by  reason  of  drought ;  a  brown, 
dull-looking  field  that  had  borne  hay ;  and  a 
small,  neat  garden  of  vegetables,  chiefly  cab- 
bages. All  around  this  open  space,  filled 
with  stumps  and,  in  the  higher  portions, 
with  vast,  silvery  -  white,  dead  trees  from 
which  the  bark  had  been  stripped  by  wind 
and  weather,  and  the  limbs  of  which  stood 
out  strongly  against  the  blue  sky — all  around 
this  space  of  mountain  farm  lay  the  inter- 
minable woods  —  maple  and  hickory  and 
oak  and  poplar,  turning  now  softly  into  yel- 
low—  a  wilderness  of  forest  on  all  sides. 


Alfred's  Wife  163 

Through  these  woods  Captain  Crossby  came, 
for  the  Squeeter  road  turned  east  five  miles 
from  the  mill,  and  the  rest  of  the  way  was 
only  a  path,  so  called,  visible  to  no  mortal 
eye  but  a  woodman's,  and  not  infrequently 
baffling  to  him. 

Captain  Crossby  tied  his  horse  to  a  sapling. 
As  he  came  round  the  corner  a  tall,  slim 
girl,  with  blue  eyes  and  a  good  deal  of 
brown  hair  tied  loosely,  her  small  head  car- 
ried well  back,  as  if  she  never  cared  about 
looking  down,  came  out  of  the  cabin  with  a 
pail  in  each  hand.  She  had  color,  an  easy 
erectness  of  carriage,  bright  eyes  that  were 
wide  open  and  saw  everything  in  a  twin- 
kling, and  a  light  motion  that  seemed  to  carry 
her  without  her  own  will,  or  at  least  without 
the  faintest  conscious  exercise  of  her  will. 
And  as  she  moved  one  would  have  said  that 
every  motion  gave  her  pleasure,  and  that  to 
put  her  hand  to  her  head,  as  she  was  obliged 
quickly  and  continually  to  do,  her  hair  fall- 
ing, or  rather  bursting,  out  of  its  confine- 


164  Alfred's  Wife 

ment  of  blue  ribbon  upon  the  slightest  prov- 
ocation —  that  this,  or  any  other  slightest 
movement,  whether  of  walking  or  bending 
down,  or  whatever  it  might  be,  was  to  her 
a  positive  and  easy  delight.  And  as  she  was 
a  moving  person,  as  well  by  necessity  of 
work  to  be  done  as  by  nature,  she  appeared 
to  be  always  in  some  state  of  special  pleas- 
ure and  exuberance  of  spirit.  Captain  Cross- 
by  greeted  her.  How  was  Mrs.  Banner- 
man,  and  how  was  Alfred  ? 

"  I'm  glad  to  see  you,"  said  the  girl — "oh, 
terrible  glad  !  Alfred's  only  so  to  middling, 
and  I'm  just  wretched,  Uncle  Dan." 

Uncle  Dan,  thus  addressed,  melted  with 
astonishing  suddenness,  considering  his  low 
estimate  of  female  character,  and,  shaking 
her  hand  warmly  for  him,  inquired  what  was 
her  trouble. 

"I  guess  I'm  my  own  best  enemy,"  she 
said  ;  "  but  it  is  lonely  up  here — oh,  it  is  ! 
It's  just  dead  water  all  the  time,  and  nothin' 
seems  to  prosper  except  the  baby ;  and  no- 


Alfred's  Wife  165 

body  ever  comes  here  —  it  might  be  the 
world's  end  for  all  we  see.  Now,  you  do  need 
to  see  a  few  mortals,  Uncle  Dan  ;  you  do !" 
The  girl's  eyes  flashed  earnestly  as  she 
smiled  at  the  little,  silent,  gray  old  man  who 
stood  looking  at  her  with  his  head  thrown 
back  in  a  way  peculiar  to  himself,  as  if  he 
found  that  position  easier  to  retain  than  it 
would  be  to  lift  his  eyelids,  and  to  keep 
them  lifted.  For  generally  these  hung  down 
over  his  eyes  so  far  that  it  appeared  he  must 
be  unable  to  see  anything  beyond  his  own 
boots ;  and  though,  as  a  fact,  he  saw  more 
in  a  moment,  without  lifting  his  eyes,  than 
do  most  men  in  an  hour,  however  wide  open 
their  gaze  may  be,  he  still  preferred,  when 
he  had  a  person  to  look  at  or  into,  to  toss 
his  head  back,  with  his  pointed  gray  beard 
thrown  out  at  an  angle  in  front,  and  his  gray 
hair  worked  up  by  his  hat  into  a  kind  of  pyr- 
amid behind,  and  to  look  out  keenly  as  now ; 
and  not  seldom  to  shade  his  eyes  with  one 
hand  while  he  gazed — an  action  which,  with 


166  Alfred's  Wife 

the  exceeding  clearness  of  his  glance,  gave 
to  his  scrutiny  a  penetration  and  purpose 
that  most  people  winced  under  a  little,  and 
were  apt  to  avoid. 

But  Dellah  Lucinda  was  a  Carr,  and 
avoided  nothing.  She  looked  at  him  now, 
and  laughed — a  quick,  merry,  catching  laugh 
that  began  and  stopped  suddenly,  to  go  on 
again  as  suddenly  and  more  unexpectedly 
than  before. 

"  Uncle  Dan,  you  look  at  me  as  if  I  was 
dangerous/'  said  she,  laughing  again. 

"  PYaps  you  are,"  said  Uncle  Dan,  show- 
ing an  entire  row  of  even,  white  teeth  behind 
his  grizzled  beard. 

"  Maybe  I  am,"  said  the  girl ;  "  I  hope  so. 
I  hate  these  tame  cats !  Kitty,  kitty,  kitty, 
kitty !" 

The  girl  leaned  down  and  called  an  imag- 
inary kitten.  The  imaginary  kitten  (as  was 
clear  from  the  girl's  actions  and  face)  came 
running  to  the  call,  and  was  received,  taken 
up,  and  stroked  in  the  approved  way. 


Alfred's  Wife  167 

"And  kitty  comes  like  that,"  continued 
Mrs.  Bannerman,  with  sudden  emphasis, 
"  and  is  given  her  milk,  and  she  purs !" 
Mrs.  Bannerman  purred  in  a  way  that  was 
astounding.  "And  she's  a  good  kitty." 
Her  voice  caressed  the  virtues  of  the  "  good 
kitty."  "  And  I  hate  that  sort  of  tame  cat, 
and  so  do  you,  Uncle  Dan.  You  do — you 
know  you  do  !" 

Uncle  Dan  scarcely  smiled  at  this  sudden 
burst,  which  Mrs.  Bannerman  accompanied 
by  an  action  of  both  hands,  tucking  in  recal- 
citrant locks,  or  rather  masses,  of  hair,  one 
strand  of  which  had  fallen  out  at  each  move- 
ment made  towards  or  over  the  too  tame 
kitten. 

"  And  you  know  you'd  hate  to  be  a  wom- 
an," continued  she  ;  "  and  I  do.  And  I'd  a 
great  deal  liefer  be  a-chasin'  old  he-bears  up 
in  the  Big  Pines,  and  to  suffer  and  want  up 
there,  than  to  live  " — she  looked  around  in 
every  direction,  nodding  her  head  at  each 
object  she  saw— "like  this." 


i68  Alfred's  Wife 

Captain  Crossby  retained  the  same  posi- 
tion of  head  and  body,  and  looked  from 
under  his  eyes  at  the  girl  before  him  with  a 
kind  of  distant  scrutiny.  As  she  spoke  she 
had  grown  more  earnest,  and  her  color  came 
and  went  with  surprising  suddenness,  so  that 
there  seemed  to  be  never  a  moment  when 
the  light  of  her  entire  face  was  not  either 
growing  less  bright  and  fading  partly  away, 
or  increasing  in  brightness  until,  at  times, 
there  was  a  sudden  overflow  in  all  directions, 
and  a  wave  of  rosy  fire  passed  over  her  neck. 
At  such  moments  she  seemed  to  tremble 
with  the  excitement  of  her  own  nature  ;  but 
it  passed  away  then,  and  left  her  radiant 
and  alive,  but  less  astonishing;  and  after 
each  such  climax  and  rush  of  emotion  the 
girl  generally  laughed.  Her  laugh  seemed  to 
say  that  she  had  felt,  as  perhaps  you  had 
seen,  that  she  was  being  carried  off  her  feet, 
but  that  was  over  now — she  had  regained 
her  footing. 

"  The  fact  is,  Uncle  Dan,"  said  she,  more 


Alfred's  Wife  169 

composedly,  "  it's  duller  than  death  up  here, 
and  twice  as  unnatural.  We  might  be  dead 
for  who  we  see.  You  have  it  better  at  the 
mill ;  there's  life  there." 

Captain  Crossby  kept  his  gray  eyes  fixed 
upon  Mrs.  Bannerman. 

"  How's  Hiram  ?"  said  he. 

"  Hiram  !"  cried  the  girl.  "  What  have  I 
to  do  with  Hiram  ?"  She  frowned  slightly 
and  suddenly  at  Captain  Crossby.  "  I  ex- 
pect he's  well  enough,"  she  continued  rather 
defiantly ;  "  and  if  he  ain't,  let  him  mend  it." 

"  Comes  over  pretty  often,"  said  Captain 
Crossby,  stating  the  fact  in  his  wisdom 
rather  than  asking  the  question. 

"Oftener  than  he's  wanted,"  said  Mrs. 
Bannerman ;  and  she  opened  her  eyes  wide 
at  the  old  man.  "  Alfred's  yonder  ;  I  must 
fill  my  pails." 

Captain  Crossby  watched  her  go  down  the 
hill.  She  was  not  singing,  but  she  seemed 
to  be  swinging  the  two  pails  to  a  kind  of 
tune. 


170  Alfred's  Wife 

Alfred  was  sitting  under  an  apple-tree  in 
the  orchard,  putting  a  new  lock  on  his  rifle. 
It  was  an  old-fashioned  gun,  a  flint-lock,  and 
stood  as  high  as  the  man  who  used  it.  The 
greeting  that  passed  was  warm  ;  for,  despite 
their  difference  of  age,  the  two  men  knew 
each  other  well ;  it  was  a  quiet,  unnamed 
friendship. 

"  You  look  sick/'  said  Captain  Crossby, 
after  an  examination  of  his  friend's  face. 

"  Out  o'  heart,  Uncle  Dan,"  said  Alfred, 
looking  up  from  his  gun. 

Alfred  Bannerman  stood  six  feet  and  odd 
in  his  stockings,  and  was  broad  and  lean. 
He  was  not  a  very  remarkable-looking  per- 
son at  first  sight,  or,  indeed,  at  any  after 
sight  —  or  not,  at  least,  until  you  had 
become  aware  of  a  serious,  innocent  pair 
of  eyes  in  which  the  man  as  he  was  ap- 
peared to  find  some  outward  expression. 
In  his  long  arms,  his  big  hands  and  feet,  his 
small  head,  with  no  great  quantity  of  straight 
brown  hair,  his  rather  large  nose,  his  stoop- 


Alfred's  Wife  171 

ing  carriage  and  broad  shoulders,  there  was 
nothing  to  note  different  from  many  other 
men.  Neither  were  his  eyes  noticeable,  save 
perhaps  in  this,  that  they  remained  serious 
while  the  rest  of  his  face  smiled.  He  was 
clean-shaven — that  is  to  say,  his  jaw  had  felt 
the  touch  of  razor  about  ten  days  before, 
and  glistened  now  with  a  kind  of  straw- 
colored  stubble  of  coming  beard.  It  was  a 
good  face,  but  it  puzzled  you  in  the  very 
moment  of  discerning  its  goodness  and  com- 
posure ;  for  if  you  saw  Alfred  smile,  as  he 
did  now  in  looking  up  at  Captain  Crossby, 
and  thought  how  gentle  he  would  be  with 
children,  judging  from  the  sweetness  of  his 
expression,  you  at  the  same  time  felt  a  little 
disturbed  by  this  seriousness  of  his  eyes.  It 
was  not  easy,  you  felt,  to  prognosticate  the 
actions  of  the  man  who  had  that  innocence 
of  outlook  upon  the  world ;  not  easy  to  fore- 
judge how  far,  through  what  entanglements, 
unbiassed  by  what  complexities,  that  appar- 
ently profound  sincerity  would  carry  him. 


172  Alfred's  Wife 

"  Out  o'  heart,"  he  said,  and  smiled  at  Cap- 
tain Crossby,  who  was  standing  up  in  front 
of  him. 

"What  for?"  said  the  latter,  leaning  on 
his  rifle. 

"  It's  just  this  way,  Uncle  Dan,"  con- 
tinued Alfred,  pushing  his  tools  to  one  side. 
"When  I  married  Lucinda,  two  years  now 
agone,  I  told  her  what  she  had  to  expect : 
lonesomeness,  and  poor  living  compared  to 
what  her  fawther  gave  her,  and  hard  times, 
and  whatever  a  woman  has  to  endure  ;  and 
she  said  she  knew  what  she  had  to  expect, 
and  I  guess  she  made  a  mistake." 

Alfred  looked  inquiringly  at  Uncle  Dan, 
but  the  latter  had  taken  refuge,  in  advance, 
from  all  such  looks  by  shutting  up  his  left 
eye  and  gazing  with  his  right  down  his  rifle- 
barrel,  in  the  circular  darkness  of  which  he 
appeared  not  infrequently  to  find  immense 
reserves  of  mystery — as  if  at  the  bottom  of 
that  long  tube  lay  the  final  knot  and  en- 
tanglement of  poor  humanity. 


Alfred's  Wife  173 

"  I  guess  she  made  a  mistake,"  said  Alfred. 
"At  her  fawther's  there  was  brothers  and 
sisters  and  mother,  and  friends  that  came  in, 
and  they  as  wished  to  keep  company  with 
her ;  it  was  a  road  which  brought  travellers, 
and  altogether  it  was  a  lively  place  where  a 
young  girl  might  enjoy  her  life — which  she 
leaves  for  this  and  me." 

Alfred  looked  helplessly  at  Uncle  Dan ; 
but  as  the  old  man  continued  to  ponder 
down  his  gun-barrel,  and  gave  no  sign  of 
sympathy  for  Lucinda's  loss  and  exchange 
of  all  the  goods  and  gayeties  of  a  life  sit- 
uated on  a  road  "  for  this" — Alfred  had 
looked  about  him  as  he  spoke — "  and  me" — 
he  continued : 

"And  this  season's  drought  has  pretty 
nigh  to  ruinated  me.  Corn,  hay,  onions,  po- 
tatoes— you  know  how  it  is — everything,  to 
the  bees  even,  is  less  or  nothing,  and  it  is 
the  pinchiest  time  that  I  do  ever  remem- 
ber." 

Uncle  Dan  nodded  his  head  slowly  at  this 


174  Alfred's  Wife 

point,  and  Alfred  continued  in  his  slow,  bal- 
anced way  of  speaking,  as  if  the  unhurried 
consideration  of  any  subject  in  discussion, 
and  of  every  side  of  such  subject,  and  hence 
of  every  word  that  expressed  or  threw  light 
upon  it,  was  the  natural  and  inevitable  proc- 
ess of  his  mind.  Be  the  subject  what  it 
might,  Alfred  approached  it,  and  looked  at 
it,  handled  and  weighed  it,  with  the  same 
deliberate  impartiality.  When  he  spoke  of 
the  season  being  the  pinchiest  he  had 
ever  known,  it  was  perfectly  clear  by  the 
intonation  of  his  voice,  that  he  was  be- 
ing fair  to  the  demands  of  all  the  other 
seasons  to  be  considered  more  pinchy  than 
this  one. 

"  And  it's  just  this  way,  Uncle  Dan,"  said 
Alfred:  "  she's  fallen  to  lonesomeness ;  and 
I  wake  up  at  night,  and  hear  her  crying  and 
crying  all  in  the  dark;  and  then  I  try  to 
comfort  her — I  try  all  I  can.  I  tell  her  it 
won't  last,  and  I  tell  her  this  and  that ;  but 
you  must  have  comfort  for  to  comfort  with. 


Alfred's  Wife  175 

And  it's  lonesome  and  poor  and  hard,  and 
I'm  not  enough  for  her,  that's  the  truth, 
Uncle  Dan." 

Alfred  looked  out  over  the  hills  and  into 
the  distance,  as  he  was  apt  to  do  when  trou- 
ble came  upon  him  heavily.  As  he  con- 
tinued, there  was  a  sincerity  in  the  quiet  of 
his  manner,  in  his  few  simple  gestures,  and 
in  every  intonation  of  his  voice,  that  would 
have  prejudiced  the  minds  of  the  dullest  jury 
in  his  favor,  even  had  the  evidence  against 
his  truth  been  of  the  most  final  and  conclu- 
sive kind. 

"  You  may  know  it's  pinchy  with  us,"  said 
he,  "  when  I  say  we  killed  Lucy,  two  weeks 
back,  on  a  Thursday." 

Lucy  was  Alfred's  pet  hog,  which  Captain 
Crossby  well  knew,  and  accordingly  com- 
pressed his  lips,  still  gazing  down  the  barrel 
of  his  gun,  as  much  as  to  say,  Has  it  come  to 
this?  Lucy  had  come  into  this  world  of 
men  and  pigs  the  same  day  and  hour  that 
Lucinda  had  plighted  her  troth  to  Alfred, 


176  Alfred's  Wife 

and  hence — at  least,  in  part — the  regard  en- 
tertained for  her. 

"Yes;  we  just  had  to  eat  her,"  said  Al- 
fred. "  Lucinda  loved  that  pig,  and  certain- 
ly she  did  Lucinda.  Well,  I  said  last  July, 
'  We  must  kill  her ;'  but  Lucinda  she  said, 
'No;'  and  when  I  mentioned  it  last  month 
she  burst  right  into  tears,  and  cried  that 
hard  it  'most  broke  my  heart.  But  last  week 
I  just  said  to  her  at  morning  bite,  '  Lucinda, 
I  must  do  it  to-day ;  it  isn't  right  to  feel  too 
much  about  a  pig.'  So  I  took  this  old  gun 
o'  mine,  and  I  went  down  to  the  pen  yonder, 
and  stepped  into  it,  and  Lucy-hog  she  came 
to  me  just  like  a  child  and  as  trustful  as  a 
pig  could  be !  Uncle  Dan,  it  just  cut  me 
like  a  knife.  I  could  not  pat  her,  and  I  do 
assure  you  I  was  afraid  to  look  her  in  the 
face.  Well,  I  was  doubtful  if  I  could  kill  her 
the  first  shot,  because,  you  see,  this  old  gun 
o'  mine  it  had  a  bad  lock,  and  it  might  miss 
fire." 

Uncle  Dan  assented,  and  Alfred  went  on 


Alfred's  Wife  177 

with  the  same  deliberation  and  choice  of 
words,  and  in  the  same  spirit  of  innocent 
and  composed  seriousness. 

"  But  I  couldn't  kill  that  pig  with  an  axe — 
I  just  p'intedly  couldn't  ha'  done  that !  So 
I  said  nothin'  to  her,  Uncle  Dan,  but  I  just 
up  and  pulled  trigger,  and  it  missed.  I 
pulled  again,  and  it  missed  again ;  and  it 
kept  on  snapping  and  missing,  and  perhaps 
that  shook  me,  or  what  not,  for  when  it  did 
go  off  rightly,  it  bored  that  pig  right  through 
the  left  ear.  You  never  did  hear  such  a 
squalling  and  yelling,  and  such  a  hoggish 
row — and  she  seemed  to  look  at  me  sort  of 
half  suspicious !  And  at  last  she  came  run- 
ning to  me — me,  with  the  old  gun  smoking 
in  my  hands !  And  I  tell  you,  it  went  right 
to  my  heart.  I  threw  my  gun  down,  and  I 
got  that  axe  from  outside,  and  I  took  it  into 
that  pen,  and  raised  it — and  it  was  done." 

Alfred  heaved  a  heavy  sigh  at  the  remem- 
brance. 

"  When  I  came  to  my  senses  she  was  dead, 


178  Alfred's  Wife 

and  I  saw  this  gun  lying  there.  I  took  it 
up,  and  I  thought,  '  I'll  break  you,  so  you'll 
never  play  that  trick  again.'  I  got  two 
stones — one  big,  one  little — on  the  hill  out- 
side, and  I  laid  the  gun  on  the  big  one,  and 
then  I  thought  to  myself:  '  No ;  the  gun  is 
as  good  as  any  other  gun.  It's  innocent.  It 
was  the  lock  that  missed  fire,  not  the  gun.' 
So  I  took  the  lock  off,  and  I  laid  it  on  that 
stone,  and  I  pounded  and  pounded  that  lock 
until  I  do  not  believe  a  man  could  have 
known  it  was,  or  ever  had  been,  a  lock.  I 
was  rightly  mad ;  I  was  as  much  angered  as 
I  ever  do  remember  to  have  been." 

Captain  Crossby  threw  his  head  back  at 
the  close  of  this  recital,  and  smiled,  showing 
his  teeth,  at  the  thought  of  Alfred  "  rightly 
mad."  The  latter  smiled,  too,  recognizing 
that  there  was  to  Uncle  Dan  a  certain  humor 
in  the  situation,  which,  however,  was  over- 
borne for  him  by  the  tragedy  and  pathos  of 
his  affection  for  Lucy  and  the  disaster  of  his 
relations  to  her  at  the  last. 


Alfred's  Wife  179 

"  So,"  said  he,  meditatively,  "  we're  living 
on  Lucy  ever  since." 

The  two  men  talked  together  for  an  hour 
or  more,  at  the  end  of  which  time  they  had 
agreed  to  leave  the  next  week  for  a  two- 
months'  hunt  in  the  Big  Pines.  They  hoped 
to  kill  two  or  three  bear  there,  and  twice  as 
many  deer.  They  could  safely  bring  these 
back  in  the  cold  weather,  and  Alfred,  with 
whatever  else  he  might  kill  in  the  way  of 
game  nearer  home,  would  be  able  to  tide 
over  the  hard  winter. 

Captain  Crossby  was  to  have  his  half  share. 
He  would  have  gone  with  his  young  friend 
for  less  than  that ;  for  Alfred  was  a  born 
hunter,  and  tilled  the  soil  only  because  of 
the  uncertainty  in  the  returns  of  the  chase; 
and  this  predilection  of  Alfred's  for  hunt- 
ing drew  Uncle  Dan  towards  him  mightily. 
Moreover,  for  some  mysterious  reason  he 
considered  Alfred  Bannerman  a  "  man,"  and 
seemed  to  find  this  a  further  and  peculiar 
attraction  in  him.  He  himself  had  passed  a 


i8o  Alfred's  Wife 

quarter  of  his  life's  days  in  the  deep  woods, 
and  was  a  bear-hunter  or  nothing.  He  knew 
their  ways  and  methods,  and  he  loved  a  bear, 
alive  or  dead,  perhaps  better  than  any- 
thing else  on  earth.  He  certainly  respected 
them  as  he  did  few  men  and  no  woman. 
And  this  respect,  intimacy,  and  knowledge 
of  his  accounted,  no  doubt,  in  the  mystery 
of  things,  for  a  certain  shuffling  gait  he  him- 
self had,  a  short,  decisive  grunt  he  some- 
times gave  out,  and  a  general  savageness,  or 
at  least  surliness,  of  disposition,  evinced  par- 
ticularly to  those  females  most  nearly  re- 
lated to  him. 

As  the  two  men  rose  to  go,  Lucinda  at 
the  door  calling  them  to  supper,  Hiram  Stott 
came  down  the  hill  and  through  the  orchard. 
He  had  walked  over  from  his  own  place,  a 
few  miles  distant. 

"  How  d'ye,  Mr.  Bannerman  ?  Stranger 
here,  Captain  Crossby.  Hot?  Yes,  it  is. 
Yes,  it  is  hot." 

Hiram   wiped  his  sweaty  red  brow  with 


Alfred's  Wife  181 

his  sleeve.  Alfred  spoke  to  him  ;  but  from 
Captain  Crossby  he  got  no  answer  other 
than  his  looks  fixed  upon  him. 

Hiram's  little  eyes  shot  about  in  their  red 
lids  from  one  to  the  other,  and  he  tried  very 
evidently  to  make  himself  agreeable.  He 
informed  Alfred  he  had  come  to  borrow 
some  medicine  for  his  sister.  She  was  ill, 
and  Alfred's  wife  had  the  medicine;  her 
mother,  Mrs.  Carr,  had  brewed  it.  Might 
he  borrow  the  same  ? 

Alfred  said  he'd  better  get  it.  Hiram 
moved  off  uneasily.  Captain  Crossby 's  si- 
lence when  he  was  about,  and  the  fixed, 
quiet,  rather  dangerous  attention  he  ap- 
peared to  be  giving  him,  embarrassed  him, 
and  heated  his  face.  The  thermometer 
seemed  to  Hiram  to  jump  ten  degrees  when- 
ever he  was  in  Captain  Crossby's  presence. 

As  he  turned  his  back  on  the  two  men 
now,  his  large,  thick-skinned  face  was  flushed 
with  the  heat  of  his  walk,  with  this  embar- 
rassment, and  with  anger  at  it.  He  ran  his 


i82  Alfred's  Wife 

hand  through  his  black  hair,  and  gave  out  a 
kind  of  low,  discontented  chuckle,  as  he 
thought  to  himself  that  it  was  a  small  mat- 
ter, anyhow,  what  old  Dan  Crossby  thought 
or  didn't  think  of  Hiram  Stott. 

" Alfred,"  said  Uncle  Dan,  "I'm  just  a- 
thinkin'  that  I  don't  care  greatly  about  that 
man." 

"  He's  pretty  poor  of  a  man,"  said  Al- 
fred, "  but  he  knows  better  than  to  let  his 
poorness  loose  round  here.  I  told  him  to 
his  face — he  obleeged  me  to  do  it,  for  he 
asked  me  my  opinion  —  I  told  him  that  he 
ought  to  ha'  been  shot  for  killing  Joe  Ray- 
ner;  and  if  not  then,  and  for  that,  why,  I 
told  him  he  ought  to  ha*  been  shot  for  kill- 
ing of  John  Allen.  He  fired  up,  and  said  he 
hadn't  killed  no  such  man.  I  said  he  had 
put  an  ounce  of  lead  into  his  spine  :  if  that 
was  killing,  why  then  he  killed  him." 

"They  might  have  knowed  he'd  marry 
the  Allen  woman,"  said  Captain  Crossby. 
"  He  wanted  John  Allen's  wife,  and  he  got 


Alfred's  Wife  183 

her ;  and  though  I  don't  wish  to  take  away 
any  man's  character,  it's  just  my  notion  ed- 
zackly  that  Hiram  Stott  ain't  a  safe  man." 
Uncle  Dan  looked  towards  Alfred  for  cor- 
roboration,  and  then  proceeded  dryly  and 
conclusively:  "  And  it's  my  opinion,  too, 
that  he's  a  perfect  hell-sop." 

This  was  a  favorite  expression  of  Captain 
Crossby's,  and  signified  his  intense  moral 
disapproval  of  the  person  concerned,  not  un- 
mixed with  a  strong  natural  antipathy;  and 
it  might  be  supposed  to  imply  that — at  least, 
in  Captain  Crossby's  opinion — the  said  party 
had  soaked  up  all  possible  depravity  from 
the  region  noted  in  the  first  syllable. 

The  sun  had  sunk,  and  the  pleasant,  cool 
shadow  of  the  evening  had  fallen  on  and 
over  everything.  Supper  was  done.  Hiram 
was  still  there.  Alfred  had  asked  him  in 
"  for  a  bite,"  and  he  had  stayed  on,  despite 
his  sense  of  Captain  Crossby's  disapproval, 
and  indeed  partly  in  consequence  of  it.  He 
felt  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  show  Dan 


184  Alfred's  Wife 

Crossby  that  he  wasn't  to  be  put  down. 
When  he  rose  to  go,  he  asked  Alfred  to 
bring  his  wife  over  to  see  his  sister  Sarah  ; 
he  thought  Mrs.  Bannerman  would  cheer 
her  up.  Mrs.  Bannerman  said  at  once  that 
unless  his  sister  Sarah  was  sick  to  death  she 
couldn't  go ;  she  had  her  husband  and  child, 
and  couldn't  leave  them. 

Hiram  made  no  response,  but,  shouldering 
his  rifle,  gave  them  good-night,  and  rolled 
out  of  the  house.  Presently,  the  door  being 
open,  they  all  heard  Hiram  call  back,  "  If 
you're  any  way  afraid  of  anything,  Mrs.  Ban- 
nerman, don't  come."  Lucinda  flushed,  and 
cried  out,  " Afraid  o'  what?"  As  Hiram 
moved  up  the  hill,  Captain  Crossby  went  out 
of  the  cabin,  and  heard  him  gruffly  chuckling 
to  himself  in  the  dark. 

When  Captain  Crossby  had  turned  into 
one  of  the  two  beds  in  the  single  room 
which  composed  the  entire  "  house,"  Alfred 
and  Lucinda  went  outside  to  talk.  He  told 
her  of  the  plan  for  the  hunt  in  the  Big  Pines, 


Alfred's  Wife  185 

and  further  explained  that  Uncle  Dan's 
brother  would  come  up  once  a  week  and 
look  after  her  during  his  absence,  and  that 
he  meant  to  ask  Luanda's  father  to  let  her 
younger  brother  Bob  stay  awhile. 

As  he  spoke,  Lucinda  walked  away,  and 
stood  with  her  back  towards  him. 

"Where  are  you  going?"  said  Alfred. 

"  I'm  just  sick  and  crazy  with  bein'  alone," 
replied  his  wife.  "  And  I  just  hate  my  life, 
anyway." 

Alfred  sat  down  on  a  stump,  and  took  the 
girl  on  his  lap,  gently,  and  kissed  hen 

"  It  will  all  go  better  when  I  get  back, 
Lucy,"  said  he ;  "I  promise  you,  it  certainly 
will." 

"  Never !"  said  Lucinda,  with  a  wild  rising 
inflection  and  a  sob,  and  then  burst  into 
tears. 

"Alfred,"  she  said,  when  the  first  heavi- 
ness of  the  storm  was  over,  "  I  just  ain't  fit 
to  live,  and  you're  that  good  to  me  it  makes 
it  worse." 


i86  Alfred's  Wife 

III 

Next  week  Alfred  and  Captain  Crossby 
made  their  start  for  the  Big  Pines.  As  they 
went  down  the  hill  in  Indian  file — two  mules 
and  half  a  dozen  dogs,  followed  by  the  men 
with  their  long  rifles — Lucinda  stood  at  the 
door  to  watch,  the  tears  of  parting  in  her 
eyes.  She  mounted  a  stump  to  see  them 
ford  the  Little  Swift  below,  her  dress  flutter- 
ing in  the  breeze,  her  hair  loose,  her  eyes 
bright,  and  her  color  coming  and  going,  as 
she  blew  kiss  after  kiss  to  her  husband. 
When  they  were  gone  she  sat  down  on  the 
stump  and  cried  bitterly. 

Perhaps  no  one  knew  how  lonely  Lucinda 
was  even  before  Alfred's  departure.  She 
was  not  only  that,  but  discontented  and  un- 
happy and  sore,  and  wanted  she  knew  not 
what.  If  Alfred  was  more  than  usually  ten- 
der to  her  it  made  matters  worse.  "  If  he'd 
only  beat  me  and  beat  me !"  she  would  say 
to  her  baby,  who  replied  by  a  gurgle,  and  a 


Alfred's  Wife  187 

fat  fist  waved  in  the  air.  But  Lucinda  had 
at  heart — it  had  not  come  there  suddenly,  it 
had  grown — a  sense  of  some  deficiency  in 
Alfred's  nature.  She  expressed  it  to  herself 
by  desiring  that  he  would  "  beat  her."  It 
seemed  as  if  he  was  too  gentle,  as  if  he 
lacked  a  certain  positive  quality,  a  harsh- 
ness, or  roughness,  or  what  not,  that  would 
make  life  easier.  She  wondered  at  times  if 
he  would  avenge  an  insult ;  if  he  had  had  a 
sister  betrayed,  would  he,  like  Lick  Hern- 
shaw,  "  take  into  "  the  woods  after  the  be- 
trayer, and  shoot  him  dead  three  weeks  later 
as  he  was  watering  his  horses  in  the  Red 
Deer  Fork?  She  was  not  certain  that  he 
would.  And  now  that  Alfred  was  gone 
these  thoughts  and  doubts,  with  a  sense  of 
the  hardness  of  life,  all  came  upon  her  with 
redoubled  force  and  frequency.  Her  only 
means  of  driving  them  away  was  to  sing, 
and  sing  she  did.  If  any  one  had  passed 
between  the  hours  of  dawn  and  dark  they 
might  have  heard  her  clear,  high  voice  sing- 


i88  Alfred's  Wife 

ing  on  the  hill-top,  in  the  solitude  of  the 
woods. 

Captain  Crossby's  brother  came  up  twice, 
and  then  was  taken  with  a  fever,  and  came 
no  more.  Bob  was  needed  at  home. 

Hiram  came  down  one  day  after  the  men 
left,  and  once  again ;  then  not  for  a  week. 
On  his  third  appearance  he  stated  that  sis- 
ter Sarah  was  dead  and  u  coffined  up"  and 
"  buried  under,"  and  that  that  was  the  com- 
pletion of  her  sufferings.  He  came  every 
day  for  the  next  week,  until  Lucinda  told 
him  to  stay  away. 

It  was  the  day  after  that,  that  the  baby 
was  taken  ill.  Lucinda  was  alone,  without 
help.  She  saw  the  child  grow  worse  and 
yet  worse,  and  could  do  nothing  for  it.  It 
was  a  severe  ordeal,  but  of  short  duration. 
In  less  than  four  days  her  child  died. 

In  the  quiet  that  suddenly  fell  upon  her 
with  the  cessation  of  the  child's  struggle  for 
life,  Lucinda  preserved  a  kind  of  composure. 
She  was  silent ;  she  set  the  cabin  to  rights ; 


Alfred's  Wife  189 

she  attended  to  whatever  necessary  work 
she  had  neglected  during  the  child's  ill- 
ness. 

As  she  sat,  at  the  close  of  the  day,  on  the 
stump  outside  the  cabin,  her  hands  in  her 
lap,  she  felt  scarcely  alive ;  a  deadness  had 
fallen  upon  her,  a  profound  apathy  of  life. 
Her  entire  being  lay,  like  her  hands,  passive, 
grasping  nothing,  without  even  the  desire  of 
grasping. 

Hiram  came  late  in  the  evening.  She  al- 
lowed him  to  enter  the  cabin,  but  she  cov- 
ered the  face  of  the  baby  from  him. 

The  next  day  he  offered  to  dig  the  grave 
for  her.  Lucinda  refused  the  offer  at  once. 
She  would  dig  it  herself,  and  went  out  to 
fetch  pick  and  spade. 

"Why,"  said  he,  as  she  returned,  "you 
can't  dig  it,  the  ground's  frozen.  Come 
along,  now ;  I'll  pick  the  hole  out.  Grave's 
a  grave.  What's  the  difference  to  it  who 
digs  the  dirt  ?" 

"  There's  some  things  I'd  a  heap  sooner 


igo  Alfred's  Wife 

be  dead  than  see  you  to  do,"  replied  the  girl 
in  a  low  voice. 

Hiram  felt  that  he  was  nearing  dangerous 
ground,  but  some  spark  of  natural  sympathy 
and  desire  to  be  helpful  in  such  an  exigen- 
cy, combined  in  whatever  degree  with  a  de- 
termination which  he  had  lately  formed  to 
make  himself  useful  to  the  woman  before 
him,  impelled  him  further. 

"  Well,  when  you've  got  the  hole  dug,  I'll 
bring  it  up  to  you,  if  you  say  so ;  and  I  can 
chuck  the  earth  back  for  you." 

"  Don't  you  lay  a  finger  on  my  baby  to 
bring  it  up  to  me !" 

Lucinda  spoke  with  a  gravity  of  manner 
and  with  an  absence  of  quick  emotion  which, 
as  Hiram  was  unused  to  it  in  her,  startled 
him  more  than  the  most  violent  exclama- 
tion would  have  done.  He  looked  sullen 
and  confused,  but  made  no  answer. 

"  There's  some  things  you  have  nothin' 
to  do  with,"  continued  Lucinda,  looking  at 
Hiram  as  if  she  despised  him — "  nothin'  to 


Alfred's  Wife  191 

do  with,  Alfred  absent  or  not ;  and  there's 
things  in  this  world  that  ain't  fittin'  to  be 
done.  You'll  let  me  to  do  as  I  say.  It's  not 
your  loss;  and  those  that  have  lost  let  them 
bury  their  loss,  not  another." 

Lucinda  went  up  the  hill.  She  chose  a  spot 
under  a  tall  pine  where  she  herself  had  fre- 
quently sat  with  the  baby.  The  ground  was 
hard,  and  the  digging  cost  her  labor.  The 
afternoon  was  still  and  cold ;  but  cold  as  it 
was  the  girl  was  soon  warmed  with  her 
work.  As  the  hard  surface  was  broken  up 
and  thrown  out,  the  digging  became  easier, 
the  grave  grew  deeper  rapidly,  and  Lucinda 
was  soon  obliged  to  work  inside  of  it.  At 
a  little  before  sunset  it  was  completed.  A 
heap  of  brown  earth  was  thrown  out  on  all 
sides;  and  Lucinda,  standing  up  in  the  grave, 
could  barely  see  the  horizon,  where  the  sun 
was  setting  coldly  in  a  bank  of  dull -red 
clouds.  She  looked  up  only  to  measure  the 
depth  to  her  satisfaction.  Then  she  bent 
down  again  and  began  to  smooth  with  her 


i92  Alfred's  Wife 

hands  the  roughness  of  the  clay  bottom. 
She  smoothed  it  as  if  it  had  been  the  clean 
sheet  of  some  small  bed  which  had  become 
creased  and  rumpled;  and  as  her  hands 
moved  lightly  over  it,  the  sweat  from  her 
forehead  dropped  on  the  loose  earth. 

The  sun  had  gone  down  and  left  the  ex- 
tent  of  winter  forest,  seen  from  the  hill, 
lightless  and  cold -looking,  when  Lucinda 
began  to  go  up  the  path  with  the  child  in 
her  arms. 

She  laid  it  at  the  foot  of  the  pine,  where 
she  had  frequently  rocked  it  to  sleep.  The 
same  pillow  she  had  used  was  under  its  head. 
It  was  after  dark  before  she  laid  it  in  the 
grave  she  had  prepared. 

Hiram  stood  at  the  door  of  the  cabin  and 
listened  at  intervals.  He  could  hear  no  sound 
until,  about  an  hour  or  two  before  midnight, 
as  he  judged,  he  caught  the  click  of  pick 
and  spade  again,  and  concluded  that  Lu- 
cinda was  completing  her  work  in  the  dark- 
ness. She  came  down  to  the  cabin  short- 


Alfred's  Wife  193 

ly  after  that  and  threw  herself  upon  the 
bed. 

He  knew  that  she  had  not  slept  at  all  the 
previous  night,  and  guessed  she  could  scarce- 
ly have  got  much  sleep  during  the  baby's 
illness.  But  now  he  saw  her  lying  in  her 
clothes  on  the  bed  opposite,  sleeping  pro- 
foundly. He  reckoned  she'd  come  to  her- 
self if  she  slept  enough. 

Hiram  was  obliged  to  spend  the  next  day 
at  his  own  place,  and  did  not  see  Lucinda 
again  until  the  following  morning.  When 
he  came  down  into  the  cabin  he  was  no  less 
than  astounded.  For  just  so  quiet  and  self- 
contained  as  she  had  been  before  the  child's 
death  and  burial,  just  so  wild  and  extrava- 
gant in  her  lack  of  self-control  did  she  appear 
after  these.  She  seemed  to  have  buried  with 
the  child  any  care  that  she  had  for  herself. 
She  spoke  little,  and  when  she  did,  suddenly 
and  with  anger.  But  her  gestures,  her  mo- 
tions, the  expression  of  her  face,  and  every- 
thing she  did,  or  the  manner  in  which  she 


194  Alfred's  Wife 

left  anything  undone,  expressed  just  such  a 
spirit  in  her  as  would  have  induced  her  to 
seek  rather  than  to  avoid  a  blow  or  a  cut, 
had  these  impended — almost  such  a  spirit  as 
would  have  made  it  a  relief  for  her  to  be 
thrown  into  danger  and  violence,  and  to 
suffer  from  them. 

While  she  was  in  this  state,  Hiram  stayed 
at  the  cabin.  He  cooked  and  did  all  the 
work  there  was  to  do,  his  eyes  growing  more 
bloodshot  and  his  face  redder  with  bending 
over  the  open  fire. 

Three  weeks  passed  thus.  The  coldest  days 
of  winter  were  come  and  the  snow  lay  a  foot 
deep  along  the  ridge.  It  was  a  week  past 
the  date  fixed  for  Alfred's  return.  Hiram 
had  been  obliged  to  spend  two  days  at  his 
home.  On  the  evening  of  the  third  day  he 
appeared  with  a  sledge  and  a  mule.  The 
next  morning,  as  Lucinda  was  splitting  wood 
outside  the  cabin,  he  brought  the  mule  and 
sledge  to  the  door,  took  her  heavy  cloak 
from  the  peg  inside,  and  coming  out  with  it, 


Alfred's  Wife  195 

threw  it  over  her  shoulders.  The  girl  looked 
at  him  defiantly. 

"I  know  what  you  want/*  she  cried  out, 
"  but  you're  not  going  to  have  me !" 

"  Come  on  !"  said  Hiram,  in  as  gentle  and 
wheedling  a  tone  as  was  possible  to  him. 
Lucinda  laughed  insultingly. 

"  Come  on !"  she  repeated,  imitating  him. 
He  drew  his  eyebrows  together,  but,  laying  a 
hand  on  hers,  was  about  to  say  something 
flattering  and  sweet. 

"  Take  it  away !"  said  Lucinda,  looking  at 
the  heavy  hand  covering  her  own. 

"  What's  the  use  of  makin'  believe  ?"— soft- 
ening his  voice  as  much  as  was  possible  for 
him,  and,  as  a  consequence,  speaking  in  a 
kind  of  raspy  whisper.  "  Don't  you  know 
that?" 

"  Take  it  away !"  cried  Lucinda,  raising  the 
axe  she  held  in  the  other  hand. 

Hiram  only  clasped  her  hand  more  strong- 
ly. The  girl  swung  her  forearm  back,  and 
the  axe,  making  a  loose,  wide  circle,  began  to 


ig6  Alfred's  Wife 

descend  in  such  an  arc  as,  fully  described, 
would  have  slashed  Hiram's  wrist  or  hand, 
and  not  impossibly  both  his  and  the  woman's, 
beneath  it.  But  in  an  instant  the  helve  was 
caught  close  to  the  head  and  swung  out  of 
the  girl's  grip. 

"  Cut  and  bite,  eh?" said  Hiram,  in  a  voice 
quite  natural  to  him.  At  the  same  moment 
he  took  her  about  the  waist  and  under 
the  knees  and  set  her  down,  all  in  one 
motion,  on  the  sledge.  Lucinda  attempted 
to  rise. 

"  You're  a-comin'  home  to  me,"  said  he, 
letting  both  his  hands  fall  heavily  from 
behind  on  her  shoulders.  Lucinda  gave  a 
cry  of  pain. 

"  Sit  there,  then  !"  he  said,  warningly. 

Luanda's  face  was  flushed,  her  eyes  were 
blazing,  and  she  looked  dangerous  enough ; 
but  she  remained  seated. 

"You  know  what'll  come  o'  this?"  cried 
she,  in  an  excited  voice. 

Hiram  laughed  rudely.    "  Know  ?   Know  ? 


Alfred's  Wife  197 

Why,  yes," — with  a  sneer, — "nothin'  '11  come 
of  it." 

"  You  can  take  me,  for  all  I  care/*  said  the 
girl,  bitterly.  "Take  me;  it's  nothing  to 
me,  nor  anything  else  on  this  earth." 

Hiram  started  the  mule,  walking  beside 
the  sledge  with  the  reins  in  one  hand  and 
his  rifle  in  the  other. 

"  But  killin'  '11  come  of  it,"  added  Lucinda. 
"  You  better  forego  your  bargain,  Hiram 
Stott.  I  may  be  pretty  enough,  but  I  ain't 
worth  your  life  to  you." 

The  sledge  was  descending  the  hill  and 
the  cabin  was  nearly  out  of  sight. 

"You'll  do,"  said  Hiram,  with  a  look  at 
her.  "  I'll  be  about  when  there's  killin'. 
What  I  want,  I  gen'rally  get,"  he  added,  with 
a  laugh. 

There  was  something  too  triumphant  in 
the  words,  as  in  the  short  laugh  that  follow- 
ed, and  Lucinda  half  rose  suddenly,  and 
began  to  get  off — the  sledge  still  in  motion. 
Hiram  let  the  reins  fall  on  the  snow,  and 


ig8  Alfred's  Wife 

trail ;  the  mule  walked  on,  while  he  leaned 
over  and  dropped  the  barrel  of  his  rifle  on 
Luanda's  hand,  which  had  caught  the  up- 
right of  the  sledge,  and  with  which  she  was 
supporting  her  half -raised  body  in  the  act 
of  stepping  from  the  sledge  into  the  snow. 
The  iron  barrel  fell  heavily,  the  hand  relaxed 
of  itself  from  the  shock,  and  the  girl  sank 
back.  She  then  lay  down,  covering  her  face 
with  her  hands,  but  making  no  sound. 

The  distance  from  Alfred's  cabin  on  the 
ridge  to  Hiram's,  low  down  in  a  swampy 
ground  and  surrounded  by  a  host  of  dead- 
ened trees,  alder  bushes,  and  laurel,  was  seven 
miles.  As  they  arrived  at  the  door  Hiram 
said,  contemptuously: 

"  Alfred's  nothin'.  He's  a  sheep." 
Lucinda,  who  had  been  for  some  time  sit- 
ting upright  and  silent,  went  off  suddenly 
into  a  passion  of  dry,  agonized  sobs.  Hiram, 
fearing  she  might  do  herself  some  injury  in 
the  violence  of  the  moment,  knelt  in  the 
snow  beside  her  and  laid  his  hand  on  her 


Alfred's  Wife  199 

head  to  stroke  her  hair.  She  replied,  with 
no  intermission  of  convulsive  sobbing,  with 
a  blow  in  the  face  too  quick  to  be  evaded. 

"  You  may  do  what  you  will  with  me," 
she  said,  "  but  you  can't  do  that.  It's  not 
your  business  if  I  cry." 

She  got  up  from  the  sledge,  and,  stum- 
bling in  the  soft  snow  as  she  walked,  went 
into  the  cabin,  still  sobbing.  The  children 
had  come  to  the  door. 

"  That's  your  new  mother,  chaps,"  said 
Hiram. 


IV 


In  another  week  Alfred  and  Captain  Cross- 
by  came  back,  successful,  from  their  hunt. 
The  mules  were  loaded  with  bear's-meat 
and  venison.  There  was  enough  for  months. 

As  Alfred  caught  sight  of  his  cabin  on  the 
hill  he  felt  as  much  pleasure  in  his  return, 


200  Alfred's  Wife 

as  much  buoyancy  of  spirit  and  hope  for  the 
future,  as  he  had  ever  known  in  his  life. 

Captain  Crossby  stopped  at  the  stable. 
Alfred  walked  quickly  into  the  cabin,  the 
door  of  which  stood  wide  open.  No  one 
was  there.  He  called  his  wife's  name.  As 
he  did  so,  he  saw  that  the  fire  was  dead,  and, 
looking  about  him,  perceived  that  the  room 
was  in  disorder.  He  went  to  the  door. 
There  were  no  fresh  footsteps  to  and  from 
the  cabin.  He  noted  the  sledge-track,  now 
a  week  old.  It  occurred  to  him  that  Lu- 
cinda  had  for  some  good  reason  left  for  the 
mill,  and  he  went  inside  again  to  find  any 
letter  there  might  be  there  for  him.  On 
the  bed-quilt  was  pinned  a  piece  of  yellow 
paper.  Alfred  read : 

Your  woman's  come  to  live  with  me.  Why'd 
you  leeve  her  to  starve  ?  The  young  one  hit  died. 

HIRAM  STOTT. 

Alfred  sat  down  on  the  bed,  the  bit  of 
yellow  paper  in  his  hand.  Captain  Crossby 


Alfred's  Wife  201 

came  in,  and,  seeing  his  friend's  face,  took 
the  paper.  The  two  men  looked  at  each 
other.  A  flush  of  color  appeared  in  the 
older  man's  wrinkled,  smoke-begrimed  face, 
but  he  said  not  a  word.  He  turned  to  the 
chimney-place  and  began  kicking  among  the 
cold  ashes  on  the  hearth. 

Alfred  was  silent  a  long  time,  sitting  weak- 
ly, and  apparently  in  a  dazed  state  of  mind, 
on  the  bed.  Captain  Crossby  moved  in  and 
out,  made  a  fire,  unpacked  the  mules,  cleaned 
his  rifle  and  Alfred's,  and  cooked  supper ;  all 
which  time  he  said  nothing,  only  now  and 
again  casting  a  side  glance  at  Alfred. 

After  one  of  his  momentary  absences  from 
the  cabin  he  found  the  room  empty  when  he 
returned.  He  put  down  the  log  he  had  on 
his  shoulder,  and  went  out,  peering  around 
in  all  directions  for  Alfred.  It  was  dark. 
The  old  man  had  some  vague  fear  in  his 
mind,  for  he  ran  round  the  cabin,  up  the  hill 
a  short  distance,  and  back,  with  astonishing 
speed,  glancing  quickly  here  and  there,  now 


202  Alfred's  Wife 

stopping  to  listen,  now  bending  down  over 
the  snow,  and  looking,  in  the  suddenness  and 
celerity  of  his  movements,  and  in  the  way 
in  which  he  bent  down  as  he  ran  up  the 
slippery  hill-path,  with  his  gray  hair  piled  up 
on  his  small  head  and  his  eyes  restlessly  in- 
quisitive, as  unlike  anything  purely  human  as 
can  be  imagined  wearing  a  shirt  and  boots. 
He  presently  heard  the  snow  crunch  behind 
the  stable,  and  concluded  that  Alfred  must 
be  there.  He  stopped  a  few  feet  away.  He 
could  see  pretty  plainly,  for  the  brilliance 
of  the  winter  stars  mingled  with  the  last 
radiance  of  twilight,  and  the  snow  reflected 
whatever  light  there  was.  He  saw  Alfred 
standing  in  the  shadow  of  the  stable,  with  his 
face  against  the  logs,  his  body  moving,  and 
apparently  shaken  with  some  strong  emo- 
tion. He  heard  a  succession  of  dull,  bumping 
sounds,  and  supposed  he  was  kicking  the 
logs.  But  at  the  same  moment  he  saw  him 
raise  his  hands  and  once  and  again  bring  the 
closed  fists  with  all  his  force  against  the 


Alfred's  Wife  203 

wall  of  the  stable.  The  old  man  ran  forward, 
and,  throwing  himself  upon  his  friend,  forced 
him  away  from  the  building. 

As  he  did  so,  he  saw  that  his  forehead 
was  bleeding  profusely. 

"  Have  yourself!  Have  yourself !"  said  he, 
and  gripped  the  man  by  both  wrists.  Al- 
fred's hands,  too,  were  wet  with  blood,  and 
he  was  trembling  as  if  in  the  violence  of  an 
ague-fit. 

"  Alfred !"  said  Captain  Crossby,  as  if  he 
would  bring  him  to  himself  by  calling  his 
name  to  him.  Alfred  made  no  reply  other 
than  to  continue  breathing  rapidly,  as  if 
after  violent  physical  exertion,  and  trem- 
bling from  head  to  foot. 

Uncle  Dan  led  him  into  the  cabin. 

"That'll  do  !"  he  said,  with  severity.  He 
took  a  piece  of  rag,  and,  dipping  it  in  water, 
sopped  Alfred's  bloody  forehead  and  face. 
It  was  more  bruised  than  cut  by  the  force 
with  which  he  had  thrown  himself  against 
the  logs.  But  he  became  gradually  quieter, 


204  Alfred's  Wife 

and  in  half  an  hour  found  himself  eating  the 
meal  that  had  been  cooked  for  him.  When 
the  older  man  had  cleared  up  and  washed 
the  dishes,  he  threw  a  section  of  a  tree  on 
the  fire  and  drew  his  chair  up  to  it.  Alfred 
sat  on  the  floor,  with  his  back  against  the 
stone  chimney-pillar  and  his  long  legs  out 
in  front  of  him. 

"Alfred,"  said  the  old  man,  leaning  over 
and  taking  one  of  Alfred's  hands  gently  in 
his,  an  action  probably  as  unusual  with  him 
as  standing  on  his  head  would  have  been — 
"  Alfred,  I  guess  we  know  each  other.  It's 
natural  you  should  feel  as  you  do."  Uncle 
Dan  spoke  with  something  akin  to  a  drawl 
and  in  rather  a  high  voice.  "  Now,"  he  con- 
tinued, "I've  been  a-thinkin'  this  matter 
over,  and  hit's  just  my  opinion  that  we  must 
go  right  down  to  Hiram — we  must  go  right 
down  to  him;  for  I've  a  notion  that  that 
man  wants  to  be  settled." 

Alfred  looked  up  at  his  friend  sadly. 

"  Hiram  has  children,  and  they're  mother- 


Alfred's  Wife  205 

less,"  continued  Captain  Crossby ;  "  but  if 
he  ain't  settled  and  done  with,  he'll  bring 
about  more  motherless  and  more  fatherless 
children,  too,  than  he  has  himself  twic't  over. 
Now  that's  what  I  conclude  to  be  the  case." 

Alfred  made  no  rejoinder.  In  a  few  min- 
utes he  threw  himself  on  the  bed.  Captain 
Crossby  heard  him  breathing  irregularly  and 
wakefully  through  the  night. 

The  next  morning,  when  they  had  eaten, 
he  intimated  that  there  never  was  a  time 
like  the  present  to  do  a  just  action.  Should 
they  go  down  and  "settle"  Hiram  ?  Alfred 
was  sitting  in  the  doorway,  with  his  head 
against  the  jamb,  looking  out  into  the  dis- 
tance. 

"  Uncle  Dan,"  said  he,  "  Hiram  has  done 
me  grievous  wrong.  He'd  far  better  have 
taken  my  life  from  me  than  her  I  loved. 
But  if  we  kill  him,  it  throws  her  out  on  the 
mercy  of  the  snow.  I  don't  reckon  her  faw- 
ther  will  roof  her  now ;  assuredly  she  shall 
never  come  under  my  roof  again." 


206  Alfred's  Wife 

Alfred  paused,  for  something  stopped  his 
speech  and  shook  him  violently.  Then  he 
continued,  more  brokenly  and  more  ex- 
citedly : 

"  I  will  not  kill  that  man — no,  not  howso- 
ever I  may  want  to  do  so — for  he's  her  only 
chance  now.  But  I  have  what  I  would  like 
to  say  to  him  face  to  face." 

Captain  Crossby  felt  that  a  righteous 
vengeance  was  slipping  from  his  grasp.  It 
caused  him  unspeakable  chagrin,  but  he 
agreed  to  go  with  Alfred  merely  to  inter- 
view Hiram.  The  peace  was  to  be  kept. 

It  was  a  gray  day,  with  a  dense  snow-fog, 
and  everything  dripping,  the  tree-trunks  a 
few  feet  away  obscure,  and  the  distance  at  a 
hundred  yards  altogether  lost. 

They  heard  Hiram  chopping.  The  strokes 
resounded  dully.  As  they  advanced  farther 
they  saw  the  figure  of  the  man  himself,  rais- 
ing his  axe  and  letting  it  fall  regularly,  his 
body,  as  it  swung  to  and  fro  at  the  work, 
looming  up  indistinct  and  huge  in  the  fog. 


Alfred's  Wife  207 

Captain  Crossby  called  out.  Hiram  was 
seen  promptly  to  seize  his  rifle  and  make  for 
the  cover  of  a  tree.  From  this  refuge  he 
would  not  hear  of  any  parleying  unless  one 
of  the  two  men  left  his  weapon  behind. 
Alfred  leaned  his  gun  against  an  oak. 

As  the  two  men  confronted  him,  standing 
about  ten  feet  distant,  it  was  evident  to 
both  of  them  that  he  mistrusted  their  mo- 
tives. Captain  Crossby  began  the  "  busi- 
ness," as  he  called  it,  by  stating  that  his 
young  friend  had  somewhat  to  say  to  Hiram, 
and  that  he  himself  had  merely  come  as  a 
witness.  Hiram  replied  in  monosyllables, 
with  evident  distrust  of  every  word  spoken. 
His  bloodshot  eyes  glanced  restlessly  from 
one  to  the  other,  and  his  fingers  pattered 
constantly  on  his  gun. 

Alfred  inquired  first  of  the  child's  death, 
and  received  such  answer  as  Hiram  had  to 
give.  He  then  said,  without  any  further 
preface : 

"  Hiram,  you  have  wronged  me,  and  you 


208  Alfred's  Wife 

know  it ;  you  have  lied,  and  you  know  it. 
And  it  is  not  the  first  time  you  have  done 
wrong  or  lied;  for  you  are  a  wrong-doer  and 
a  liar  from  your  birth  to  now,  and  you  know 
that  same  to  be  true." 

He  stood  looking  into  Hiram's  angry, 
anxious,  and  not  unastonished  eyes  with  the 
same  expression  that  he  might  have  worn 
upon  his  face  had  he  been  telling  a  child  of 
its  naughtiness,  and  there  was  no  other  wit- 
ness of  strong  emotion  in  his  manner  than  a 
violent,  quick  twitching  of  his  long  fingers 
and  a  heightened  color.  Hiram  appeared 
doubtful  what  to  say  or  do  in  reply.  This 
was  plain  language,  to  be  sure ;  but  as  the 
man  before  him  had  left  his  rifle  behind,  it 
clearly  could  not  be  meant  as  an  insult. 
Still,  the  words  were  not  such  as  he  was  ac- 
customed to  hear,  and  he  was  about  to  re- 
ply in  kind,  as  he  conceived  kind,  when  he 
glanced  from  Alfred's  face  to  that  of  Captain 
Crossby.  The  distant  scrutiny  of  the  older 
man  gave  him  a  kind  of  cold  shock.  He  felt 


Alfred's  Wife  209 

as  if  Uncle  Dan  were  sighting  an  imaginary 
rifle  at  him  ;  for  one  of  the  latter's  eyes  was 
slightly  closed  and  the  other  had  an  open, 
observant  look  which  Hiram  felt  to  be  dis- 
agreeable. 

"  If  ye  think  ye  can  cuss  me  out/*  said 
Hiram,  turning  to  Alfred,  "ye  are  mistook." 

"  I'm  not  a-cussin'  any  man,"  said  the  lat- 
ter ;  "  but  I  wish  and  I  mean  to  say  this,  Mr. 
Stott,  and  I  will  say  it  clear:  so  long  as  you 
treat  Lucinda  Carr  right,  as  a  woman  should 
be  treated,  you  are  free  of  me.  I  bear  you  a 
grudge,  but  I  will  do  you  no  evil.  I  wish  not 
to  see  you  or  her,  and  so  far  so  good ;  but  if 
you  evil  entreat  her,  or  desert  and  leave  her, 
I  will  hunt  you  down  and  surely  kill  you,  if  I 
can  lay  my  hands  upon  you — which  is  all  I 
have  to  say." 

The  man  thus  addressed  was  not  a  little 
surprised  by  the  termination  of  Alfred's 
moral  lecture.  The  latter's  fingers  were 
holding  one  another,  intertwined  tightly,  and 
his  eyes  were  wide  open  with  excitement. 


210  Alfred's  Wife 

Hiram  gave  a  short,  gruff  laugh. 

"That  all?"  he  said. 

"  You  might  just  add  this  from  me,"  said 
Uncle  Dan.  "You're  a  man  I  don't  com- 
pletely respect,  and  there's  nothing  on  this 
earth  would  give  me  the  same  pleasure  as  a 
settlement  with  you ;  and  if  you  leave  that 
woman,  I  tell  you  p'intedly,  I  never  will  rest 
until  I  bury  your  body  in  the  ground,  for 
you're  a  burden  on  it.  Now  that's  just  my 
idee  edzackly." 

Uncle  Dan,  who  had  hitherto  been  exceed- 
ingly grave  in  demeanor,  and  was  sufficiently 
fierce  in  what  he  had  just  said,  now  threw  his 
head  back  and  broke  out  with  a  silent  laugh, 
showing  the  row  of  teeth  behind  his  beard. 

Hiram  glanced  darkly  at  him. 

"  Guess  you're  both  done,  eh?  Guess  the 
meetin'  's  adjourned,  eh?  Now  suppose  you 
two  get  off  from  my  place." 

He  drew  his  gun  into  the  crook  of  his  el- 
bow, as  if  he  were  quite  ready  to  use  it  if 
not  obeyed  in  this  last  injunction. 


Alfred's  Wife  211 

Uncle  Dan  suggested  quietly  to  Alfred 
that  he  should  return  to  the  tree  against 
which  his  rifle  leaned,  and  cover  his  (Captain 
Crossby's)  retreat ;  and  as  Alfred  went  back 
to  execute  this  movement,  the  old  man 
faced  round  upon  Hiram  once  more.  The 
two  confronted  each  other  in  silence.  When 
Alfred  stood  with  his  weapon  in  readiness, 
Captain  Crossby,  who  had  kept  his  eyes  fixed 
steadily  on  the  man  before  him,  said,  warn- 
ingly,  "You  remember !"  and  rejoined  Al- 
fred. Hiram  watched  them  disappear  in  the 
fog.  When  they  were  out  of  sight,  and  as 
he  turned  towards  his  cabin,  he  seemed  to 
be  taken  with  passion.  His  face  grew  fiery 
red  in  a  moment,  the  veins  in  his  neck 
swelled,  his  eyes  became  redder  with  blood, 
and  he  rattled  and  knocked  his  teeth  to- 
gether, at  the  same  time  bursting  out  every 
few  seconds  in  a  short,  guttural  growl  of  a 
laugh :  this  throaty,  hoarse  sound,  and  the 
gnashing  of  his  teeth,  occurring  at  the  same 
moment,  sounded,  a  few  feet  away  in  the 


212  Alfred's  Wife 

fog,  as  if  a  dog  were  worrying  some  animal, 
which  in  return  was  clapping  its  bloody 
teeth  at  him. 

Alfred  lived  in  his  cabin  alone,  and  salted 
down  his  venison  and  bear's -meat.  He 
neither  saw  nor  heard  of  Hiram  or  Lucinda. 

There  was  a  discussion  of  the  affair  at  the 
mill.  The  general  opinion  was  clearly  that 
Mr.  Bannerman  should  have  removed  Mr. 
Stott  from  the  scene  of  his  activities.  If  he 
had  not,  it  was  not  their  business.  Mr. 
Brown  was  especially  severe  on  Alfred. 
But  the  whole  transaction  seemed  to  him 
like  some  ghastly  error  in  his  accounts. 
There  was  something  about  it  all  that  didn't 
add  up — to  him,  so  he  averred. 

It  was  reported  later  on  that  Lucinda  took 
extraordinary  pains  with  Hiram's  "  brats," 
but  that  she  herself  was  careless  and  un- 
kempt, and  that  she  had  lost  her  "  counte- 
nance." 


Alfred's  Wife  213 


It  was  a  year  after  that  when  Hiram  fell 
ill.  Alfred  first  heard  of  it  through  Captain 
Crossby.  The  latter  told  him  that  Lucinda 
had  walked  all  the  way  to  the  mill  to  ask 
her  father  for  help,  and  that  Amri  had  given 
her  food  for  herself,  as  much  as  would  do 
her  two  days,  and  a  mule  to  carry  her  back 
to  Hiram's,  and  had  gone  with  her  himself 
to  within  sight  of  the  cabin  ;  but  farther  he 
wouldn't  go  and  more  food  he  wouldn't 
give ;  and  he  had  said  very  plainly  at  part- 
ing, he  being  always  a  plain  speaker,  that  he 
would  feed  Lucinda  and  roof  her  and  af- 
fectionate her  if  she  took  to  livin'  and  keep- 
in'  house  with  a  catamount — it  wasn't  wed- 
breach  he  minded,  that  was  all  in  the  way  o' 
life  ;  but  as  for  Hiram  and  hisn,  he'd  as  soon 
feed  a  hole  in  hell  as  fill  their  empty  stom- 
achs. If  they  starved,  it  was  God's  own  will, 
and  a  redemption  at  that. 


214  Alfred's  Wife 

With  this  sentiment  every  one  at  the  mill 
agreed. 

Alfred,  as  he  returned  from  the  mill  the 
same  day,  wondered  how  Lucinda  would 
make  out  to  "  do  "  for  herself  and  the  three 
children  with  Hiram  ill.  It  was  still  warm 
weather ;  no  doubt  Hiram's  cabin  was  well 
stocked. 

About  a  week  later  Alfred  had  a  rest- 
less night.  The  wind  rose  with  the  evening, 
and  the  sky  foretold  a  heavy  snow.  Alfred 
dreamed  confusedly,  and  woke  repeatedly  to 
hear  the  wind  constantly  increasing  in  vio- 
lence. Towards  dawn,  in  his  dreams  he  saw 
Lucinda  before  him  in  deep  snow,  striving 
to  lift  some  heavy  object  that  lay  before  her, 
and  which  Alfred  from  his  position  could 
not  see.  He  dreamed  this  picture  twice. 
The  third  time  he  started  up,  for  he  seemed 
to  hear  his  wife  call,  and  saw  her  face  with 
such  distinctness  that  he  was  able  to  judge 
whether,  as  he  had  heard,  she  had  "  paled 
out."  But  in  his  dream  she  was  rosier  than 


Alfred's  Wife  215 

ever.  He  made  no  effort  to  sleep  again. 
However,  as  he  sat  alone  before  the  fire,  and 
listened  to  the  wind  roaring  loudly  outside, 
his  thoughts  came  upon  him  troublous  and 
thick.  He  felt  beset  with  them  and  in  dan- 
ger from  them.  For  this  there  was  a  remedy. 
He  took  his  axe  from  the  corner,  drew  on  his 
coat,  and  went  out.  The  wind  came  from 
the  north  with  a  steady  rush,  and  the  snow, 
slanting  down  to  the  earth  in  a  whirling 
mist  of  fine,  dry  flakes,  was  scurried  away  as 
soon  as  it  had  fallen,  and  piled  into  drifts 
behind  whatever  obstruction  happened  to 
lie  as  a  break  to  the  wind. 

In  the  thick  of  the  storm,  and  half-blinded 
by  the  force  with  which  the  wind  blew  the 
fine  flakes  of  snow  against  his  eyes,  Alfred  set 
to  work  vigorously  upon  a  tree  at  the  edge 
of  his  clearing.  After  some  hours  of  swing- 
ing his  axe  the  day  grayed  faintly  through 
the  falling  snow;  and  the  dangerous  flood  of 
his  thoughts  having  passed  away  with  the 
night  and  labor,  Alfred  returned  to  his  cabin. 


216  Alfred's  Wife 

When  he  had  cooked  and  eaten  he  looked 
at  the  size  and  depth  of  the  drifts  outside, 
now  first  visible  in  the  dawning  light,  and 
seemed  suddenly  to  make  up  his  mind. 

In  another  hour's  time  he  was  striding 
through  the  woods,  a  pack  of  venison,  bear's- 
meat,  and  corn-flour  on  his  back. 

He  made  his  way  down  the  ridge  to  the 
swamp  where  stood  Hiram's  cabin.  As  he 
came  out  of  the  thicket  he  saw  that  the 
cabin  was  half  snowed  under  on  the  north 
side ;  at  the  south  the  ground  was  bare.  He 
knocked.  There  was  no  answer. 

Again  he  knocked,  and  fancied  he  heard 
a  groan.  He  entered  cautiously,  not  with- 
out a  fear  of  being  shot  in  the  back.  The 
room  was  in  the  utmost  disorder,  and  so  hot 
from  a  fire  of  hickory  logs  that  the  panes 
were  clouded.  Hiram  lay  sprawling  on  the 
bed,  under  a  dirty  quilt  of  all  the  colors  of 
the  rainbow,  groaning  not  much  above  a 
whisper. 

"  Hiram,"  said  Alfred,  softly. 


Alfred's  Wife  217 

The  form  of  the  sick  man  appeared  to  leap 
from  his  bed.  He  staggered  among  the 
bed-clothes  and  grasped  for  his  rifle,  which 
hung  above  his  head  along  a  rafter.  Alfred 
instantly  seized  him  by  the  shin,  and  the 
two  men  were  rolling  on  the  floor  to- 
gether as  Lucinda  entered  and  gave  a  cry 
of  horror,  supposing  that  she  saw  a  mur- 
der. 

"  Speak  to  him ;  he  isn't  hurt,"  said  Al- 
fred, sitting  on  the  sick  man's  chest.  And 
Lucinda  making  no  answer,  he  repeated, 
"Speak  to  him  ;  make  him  keep  quiet." 

"  I  can't  quiet  him,"  cried  Lucinda ;  "  he's 
just  crazy;  he's  not  in  his  senses;  he'll  kill 
you  if  you  let  him  up." 

"  Give  me  a  rope,"  said  Alfred ;  and  with 
the  rope  thus  obtained  he  bound  the  pros- 
trate man  and  laid  him  on  the  bed. 

As  he  turned  to  Lucinda  he  now  saw  her 
for  the  first  time  in  a  year.  She  was  changed. 
For  not  only  was  she  standing  there  nerv- 
ously catching  at  her  dress  with  her  fingers, 


218  Alfred's  Wife 

a  look  of  pain  and  confusion  on  her  face, 
but  she  was  also  haggard.  The  color  still 
burned  in  her  sunken  cheeks,  but  it  looked 
almost  unnatural  now,  and  seemed,  as  Al- 
fred regarded  her,  to  flicker  and  waver,  like 
the  flame  and  light  of  a  candle  which  had 
burned  below  the  socket,  and  might  present- 
ly go  out  and  leave  her  cold  and  wasted 
and  as  pale  as  wax  forever  after.  There 
was  about  her  expression,  as  she  began  to 
recover  from  her  fright,  something  of  a  set- 
tled but  none  the  less  bitter  self-contempt. 
The  hair  that  she  used  to  tie  up  with  a  rib- 
bon was  laced  round  now  with  a  leather 
shoe-string,  and  looked  knotted  and  tangled 
in  its  masses,  while  her  dress  was  greasy  and 
slovenly  put  on.  She  looked  at  Alfred  as  if 
she  feared  him. 

"  What  are  you  come  for  ?"  she  said,  at 
length. 

"  I  heard  say  he  was  sick  and  couldn't 
rightly  do  for  you,  and  I  judged  that  with 
last  night's  snow  you'd  be  hurried  some  to 


Alfred's  Wife  219 

do  for  yourself,  and  for  him  down,  and  his 
children  ;  so  I  came  to  bring  that." 

Alfred  pointed  to  the  pack  on  the  floor. 

The  girl  made  no  answer.  Then  she 
broke  out,  suddenly,  "You  don't  say  you 
came  to  this  house,  and  me,  to  bring  food- 
stuff to  him  ?" 

"  Seeing  that  he's  sick,"  said  Alfred,  "  I 
did.  I  bring  you  both,  and  the  children, 
what  '11  keep  hunger  from  the  door." 

Lucinda's  eyes — the  feature  of  her  face 
that  had  changed  least — were  so  bright, 
with  such  a  questioning  brightness,  as  she 
gazed  at  Alfred,  that  she  seemed  to  desire 
to  throw  light  from  them  into  his  hidden 
soul.  What  he  really  meant,  his  way  of 
feeling,  was  still  dark  to  her ;  whether  he 
was  "a  sheep,"  as  Hiram  had  affirmed,  a 
creature  not  to  consider,  without  the  natural 
passions  of  jealousy  and  anger,  a  coward,  or 
whether  there  was  something  she  had  failed 
to  get  at  behind  that  appearance  of  quiet, 
and  the  sad,  innocent  eyes  that  avoided  hers 


220  Alfred's  Wife 

— as  to  all  this  she  had  remained  uncertain. 
But  this  present  action  of  his  seemed  to 
confirm  her  suspicions. 

"  You  have  forgiven  him  and  me,  then  ?" 
inquired  she,  the  color  blazing  into  her 
cheeks. 

Alfred  raised  his  eyes  full  upon  her.  He 
seemed  to  wonder  what  her  thoughts  were. 
At  length  he  said,  with  great  calm,  and  ap- 
pearing to  rest  deliberately  on  those  words 
which  expressed  most  deeply  his  feeling  and 
conviction : 

"  Lucinda,  I  have  brought  you  and  him 
food  ;  and  as  long  as  that  man  there  " — nod- 
ding to  where  the  fevered  man  lay  bound 
upon  the  bedstead,  tossing  his  head  from 
side  to  side,  and  groaning — "  as  long  as  that 
man  there  is  down,  I  will  give  him  and  you 
the  use  o'  my  hands." 

"  You  have  forgiven  me !"  cried  Lucinda, 
and  she  began  to  laugh  in  a  wild,  reckless 
way.  Alfred  raised  one  of  his  long  arms 
with  a  motion  of  deprecation. 


Alfred's  Wife  221 

"  Lucinda,  you  are  woful  mistaken.  I 
have  not  forgiven  you  for  your  a-Ieaving  me, 
and  I  never  will.  Let  it,  therefore,  be  no 
solace  to  you  that  I  am  able  to  forgive  your 
offence,  for  able  to  do  so  I  am  not ;  no,  nor 
willing;  and  I  tell  you,  face  to  face,  word 
for  word,  and  p'intedly,  what  to  your  own 
heart  is  well  known,  that  you  broke  my  life, 
and  made  it  a  poor  thing  and  hopeless,  with 
your  a-leaving  me.  Yes,  you  made  my  life 
such  as  my  sleep  is  the  dearest  thing  in  it ; 
and  not  to  think  of  you,  hit's  the  sweetest 
rest  I  can  know.  And  though  I  bring  you 
food-stuff,  and  though  I  will  not  stand  by 
and  see  you  to  starve,  nor  his  little  ones, 
which  are  innocent,  yet  as  I  have  a  Maker, 
and  as  he  looks  on  us  two  standing  here, 
never  will  I  forgive  you  for  what  you've 
undertook  to  do — never!" 

The  girl  looked  at  him  at  first  with  a  kind 
of  contemptu@us  astonishment,  then  with 
considerable  uncertainty  as  to  his  meaning. 
Finally  she  said,  a  little  doubtfully,  "  I  guess 


222  Alfred's  Wife 

you're  good — you're  certainly  good ;  but  you 
ain't  much  of  a  man." 

Alfred  made  no  reply. 

"  You  stayed  away  from  me  at  the  wrong 
time,"  continued  Lucinda,  with  a  sudden 
burst  of  emphasis.  "  Why  in  the  world 
didn't  you  come  home  ?  It's  all  very  well 
to  be  good.  I'm  not  good.  You  were  too 
easy  and  mild  and  soft,  Alfred  Bannerman ; 
that's  your  life's  trouble.  Why  didn't  you 
take  me  and  just  give  me -one?" 

Lucinda,  with  her  figure  drawn  up  and 
her  fist  closed  to  make  it  clear  to  Alfred 
what  kind  of  "  one  "  she  had  desired  him  to 
give  her,  looked  for  a  moment  more  like  her 
former  self  than  he  had  hitherto  seen  her. 

"Just  give  me  one — hit  me — when  I  got 
the  mopes  and  miserables.  Not  you !  You 
were  too  mild.  I'll  never  forgive  you  that 
child's  death — never  !" 

Alfred  flushed,  but  made  no  reply ;  and 
the  girl  went  on,  with  a  short  sob  or  two : 

aOh,   it's  just   as   well  as  it  is.     He's  a 


Alfred's  Wife  223 

man ;  he  knows  his  own  mind,"  pointing  to 
Hiram,  who  had  grown  quiet  now.  "  He 
don't  waste  any  mildness,  I  guess — not  on 
me.  But  he's  a  man,  anyhow,  Alfred  Ban- 
nerman,  more'n  God  made  you ;  and  that's 
what's  ruined  me ;  and  I  wish — if  it  wasn't 
for  the  *  new  one  ' — yes,  I  do  !  I  do !  I  do  !" 
—  Lucinda  broke  into  a  passion  of  dry, 
angry  sobs — "  that  I  was  dead  and  cold,  and 
had  no  more  to  do  with  anything  on  this 
earth — nor  anywhere  !" 

She  turned  her  face  from  Alfred,  and  fell 
down  on  her  knees,  with  her  arms  over 
something  in  the  corner  of  the  room,  her 
body  shaken  and  convulsed  with  a  kind  of 
wild  grief. 

"  God  have  mercy  on  you,"  said  Alfred — 
"  on  you  and  him  and  me !" 

He  heard  a  faint  crying  sound  in  the  cor- 
ner :  it  was  the  "  new  one  "  waking  up.  Al- 
fred had  not  heard  of  the  "  new  one  "  be- 
fore, and  now  that  he  saw  the  cradle,  with 
Lucinda  still  sobbing  violently  over  it,  and 


224  Alfred's  Wife 

heard  the  voice  of  this  child  of  his  wife's,  it 
seemed  to  him  that  something  sacred  had 
suddenly  entered  the  house  and  made  its 
presence  felt.  He  looked  at  the  man  on 
the  bed,  and  thought  that  perhaps  now  he 
would  be  true  to  Lucinda.  He  thought  of 
his  own  dead  child.  The  tears  came  sud- 
denly into  his  eyes;  he  turned  away,  and 
went  out  of  the  cabin,  and  home. 

He  came  every  day  after  that,  and  did 
such  work  as  Lucinda  could  ill  do,  chopping 
wood  and  the  like ;  but  he  never  spoke  to 
her  more  than  to  bid  her  good-morning  or 
good-night. 

When  Hiram  began  to  recover,  and  saw 
Alfred  working  about  the  place,  he  asked 
himself  if  he,  Hiram  Stott,  was  a  sane  man. 
When  he  heard  briefly,  from  Lucinda,  why 
Alfred  was  there,  he  at  once  and  finally  con- 
cluded that  Alfred  was  not  a  sane  man. 


Alfred's  Wife  225 


VI 

As  the  spring  drew  on  Hiram  recovered 
himself  completely,  and  in  June  he  took  his 
three  older  children  over  to  their  uncle's  in 
Case  County.  He  made  three  trips,  and 
carried  a  good  many  of  his  more  important 
possessions  with  him.  The  last  time  he  left 
the  mules  there.  Lucinda  was  surprised ; 
but  she  concluded  that  Hiram  was  tired  of 
the  "  old  place,"  and  was  going  to  try  Case 
County.  She  was  willing  to  do  the  same. 
Her  final  conclusion  about  Alfred  was  that 
he  was  "queer"  —  the  only  judgment  pos- 
sible, be  it  said,  when  comprehension  of  mo- 
tive fails ;  and  further,  that  he  was  "  mild," 
and  "  no  great  of  a  man."  She  thought  of 
him  often ;  and  when  she  thought  of  their 
first  days  together  she  was  very  apt  to  cry. 
But  that  was  all  desperately  over.  If  he 
had  only  not  been  so  "  mild  " !  For  Hiram 
her  feeling  was  simple :  he  was  this,  or  that, 


226  Alfred's  Wife 

or  what  might  be;  but  he  was  the  father 
of  the  "new  one,"  and  when  she  had  the 
"miserables"  he  gave  her  the  mighty  coun- 
ter-irritant of  blows.  She  never  asked  her- 
'self  if  she  loved  or  had  loved  him;  she 
simply  saw  in  him  the  person  who  was  her 
refuge  from  herself. 

It  was  during  the  evening  of  a  hot  July 
day,  when  Alfred,  successful  enough  this 
year  in  his  farm  work,  was  coming  home 
down  the  Highland  Ridge  from  salting 
cattle  of  his  own,  that  he  heard  and  then 
saw  a  man  in  the  distance  making  towards 
him  along  the  ridge.  The  man  had  a  pack. 
It  was  Hiram.  He  eyed  Alfred  suspiciously 
as  he  passed,  bending  under  his  load,  a  rifle 
in  one  hand  and  his  hat  in  the  other,  with 
which  every  now  and  then  he  wiped  the 
sweat  from  his  forehead.  Neither  spoke. 
But  Hiram,  once  his  back  was  presented  to 
Alfred,  kept  his  neck  crooked  round  over 
his  shoulder,  looking  after  the  other,  who 


Alfred's  Wife  227 

was  walking  straight  ahead  with  his  gun  and 
an  empty  salt-bag  in  one  hand.  He  had  a 
shrewd  suspicion  that  Alfred  might  turn 
suddenly  and  shoot.  He  even  felt  the  spot 
in  his  back  where  the  ball  would  hit ;  and 
fearing  this,  he  stumbled  heavily  along,  his 
head  twisted  over  his  shoulder,  until  Alfred 
was  out  of  sight ;  then  he  hitched  his  pack 
up  on  his  back,  wiped  the  sweat  from  his 
face  again  with  his  hat,  and  made  the  sort 
of  worrying,  chuckling,  hoarse  sounds  that 
were  with  him  laughter  and  fullness  of  soul ; 
and  so  passed  on  his  way,  feeling  more  in- 
finitely pleased  with  and  proud  of  himself, 
and  more  tickled  by  the  smooth  success  of 
his  scheme,  than  ever  before  in  his  life  since 
the  day  he  had  shot  Joe  Rayner  up  an  ash- 
tree. 

As  Alfred  came  swinging  up  to  his  cabin 
Captain  Crossby  was  sitting  on  the  step. 
He  looked  grave. 

"  Have  you  heard  the  news  of  Hiram  ?" 
said  he,  abruptly. 


228  Alfred's  Wife 

"  I  just  passed  him,"  observed  Alfred. 

«  Where  ?" 

"  On  the  Highland  Ridge,  going  north.'* 

"  He  has  left  Lucinda,"  said  Captain 
Crossby. 

"  He  has  ?"  said  Alfred. 

"  Has,"  replied  his  friend,  briefly. 

Alfred  looked  away  across  the  wooded 
hills  towards  the  sunset.  His  big  eyes 
seemed  suddenly  as  full  of  pity  and  distress 
as  human  eyes  can  be. 

"  Uncle  Dan,  I  guess  we  must  kill  that 
man."  Alfred  spoke  with  his  usual  deliber- 
ation. 

"  Well,  now,  that's  just  my  notion  ed- 
zackly,"  returned  the  old  man. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  two  set  out,  taking 
ammunition  and  three  days'  rations.  They 
kept  together  up  the  Highland  Ridge,  walk- 
ing late  into  the  night.  The  next  morn- 
ing they  separated.  Captain  Crossby  was 
to  go  along  the  ridge  north,  watching  at 
daybreak  and  towards  dark  for  Hiram's 


Alfred's  Wife  229 

smoke.  Alfred  pursued  the  course  of  the 
Snake  Branch.  Hiram,  whom  they  believed 
to  be  making  for  Case  County,  might  have 
taken  either  trail.  Towards  evening  of  the 
second  day  Alfred  saw  broken  twigs  and 
footprints,  and  pressed  on.  It  was  after- 
noon of  the  following  day,  as  he  came  cau- 
tiously around  a  turn  in  the  little  river, 
that  he  first  saw  the  man  he  wished  to  kill. 
The  Snake  Branch  was  hemmed  in  by  high 
mountains  here,  darkened  on  either  side 
and  overhung  by  tall  pines  and  laurel;  and 
thus  darkened  and  overhung,  it  went  noisily 
gushing  down  among  stones  and  rocks.  Al- 
fred saw  Hiram  some  few  hundred  paces 
away,  jumping  from  stone  to  stone  lightly 
under  his  heavy  pack  and  making  pretty 
fast  time.  In  a  few  minutes  he  was  near 
enough,  unseen  by  Hiram,  to  have  shot  him 
in  the  back.  Instead,  he  called  out.  The 
man  ahead  started,  and,  disengaging  himself 
from  his  pack  with  very  considerable  celer- 
ity, dropped  behind  a  rock  in  a  foot  or  two 


230  Alfred's  Wife 

of  water.  Alfred  was  exposed,  but  he  had 
little  fear  that  his  opponent  would  risk  his 
single  ball  on  him  so  long  as  he  was  in  quick 
motion,  and  accordingly  he  splashed  through 
the  shallow  water,  and  ran  rapidly  along  the 
beach,  thus  in  a  few  moments  making  a  flank 
movement,  and  forcing  the  man  behind  the 
rock  to  disclose  himself,  which  he  did  im- 
mediately, standing  up,  taking  quick  aim, 
and  firing.  The  shot  took  effect.  Alfred 
stopped,  shaken  with  the  sudden  blow  of  a 
bullet  scathing  the  flesh  of  his  shoulder;  but 
as  Hiram  turned  to  make  the  opposite  bank 
he  levelled  his  rifle  in  turn  and  fired.  While 
the  narrow  and  rocky  gorge  was  still  full  of 
echoes  he  heard  a  heavy  splash,  and  as  the 
smoke  cleared  away,  floating  down-stream, 
he  perceived  the  man  lying  in  the  water. 
He  loaded,  and  then  crossed  to  the  spot. 
Hiram's  rifle  lay  between  the  rocks,  still 
smoking;  the  pack  was  some  feet  away  in 
shallow  water ;  and  the  man  himself,  as  Al- 
fred lugged  him  heavily  out,  was  dead.  He 


Alfred's  Wife  231 

laid  the  body  on  a  rock,  and,  standing  in  the 
water  up  to  his  knees,  looked  sadly  at  the 
man  that  had  been  his  enemy. 

"  My  friend,  it  had  to  be." 

He  had  never  called  him  his  friend  before, 
and  why  he  did  so  now  he  would  scarcely 
have  known  had  he  thought  of  it. 

"  You  made  bad  work  when  you  were  up 
and  doin',  and  now  you're  down  and  dead, 
and  it's  a  God  blessing  you  are.  I  am  sorry 
for  you." 

He  said  this,  shaking  his  head,  with  the 
simplicity  of  grief,  and  as  if  indeed  he  re- 
gretted something  he  had  always  expected 
to  regret. 

"  You're  dead,  and  it's  but  right  you  should 
be.  Now  that's  the  truth." 

Alfred  made  a  fire  on  the  bank  and  cooked 
his  evening  meal.  As  his  own  corn-meal 
had  given  out  he  opened  Hiram's  pack,  and 
cooked  and  ate  the  dead  man's.  The  dodger 
thus  made  gave  him  no  qualms.  Nor  did  he 
eat  any  the  less  that  as  he  sat  on  the  sand 


232  Alfred's  Wife 

he  could  look  across  to  where  the  setting 
sunlight  fell  on  the  face  on  the  rock.  Every 
now  and  then  he  shook  his  head  and  sighed, 
but  said  nothing. 

He  buried  Hiram's  body  in  the  woods 
and  returned  home. 

Uncle  Dan  turned  up  three  days  afterwards, 
and  went  the  next  morning  to  the  mill  to  tell 
Amri  Carr. 

Alfred  set  out  at  the  same  time  for  Hi- 
ram's cabin.  He  found  Lucinda  pale,  sloven- 
ly, and  red-eyed  with  weeping.  As  he  ap- 
proached, she  said,  "  Read  that."  It  was  a 
scrawl  of  charcoal  on  paper. 

Before  goin'.  Bein'  sick  of  you,  I  have  left  and 
gone.  Alfred  he'll  take  you  back. 

HIRAM  STOTT. 

"  I  have  made  my  mistake,  and  I  must 
bide  by  it,"  said  Lucinda,  in  a  shrill  voice. 
"  Did  you  know  this?" 

"  I  did,"  replied  Alfred. 

"  He  told  you  ?"     Lucinda  laughed  dryly. 


Alfred's  Wife  233 

"  So  you  let  him  do  what  you  said  you 
would  not  let  him  do,  eh?  He  always  said 
you  were  a  sheep,  Alfred/* 

Alfred  looked  down  at  her  pityingly. 

"  He's  dead,"  he  said,  simply.  "  I  shot  him 
through  the  heart  last  Thursday,  about  sun- 
set, in  the  Snake  Branch.  He  had  his  chance, 
and  put  me  one  here"  —  pointing  to  his 
shoulder ;  "  but  he's  dead  now.  I  came  to 
take  you  to  your  fawther." 

Lucinda  was  completely  overcome  with  as- 
tonishment. She  felt,  or  pretended  to  feel, 
no  grief  for  Hiram.  But  she  was  astonished 
to  that  degree  that  she  said  nothing. 

They  started  for  Carr's  Mill  the  next  day. 
Alfred  had  loaned  his  mule,  and  as  Hiram  had 
taken  his  away  a  month  ago  they  were  obliged 
to  walk.  Alfred  carried  the  "new  one"  in 
its  cradle  on  his  shoulder.  Lucinda  came 
behind.  As  she  saw  Alfred  walking  along 
in  front  of  her,  the  "  new  one  "  merrily  gur- 
gling at  the  tree-tops,  clearly  pleased  with  the 
mode  of  conveyance  and  the  swaying  and 


234  Alfred's  Wife 

easy  motion  of  it,  she  felt  less  sick  at  heart, 
less  sore,  than  she  had  for  months,  but  much 
more  confused.  She  could  not  understand 
it.  Alfred  was  so  much  smoke — a  riddle  to 
her  of  the  darkest  kind.  She  trudged  wea- 
rily behind,  and  wondered,  and  thought  of 
Hiram  with  pity,  and  hate,  and  almost  love, 
and  a  strong  dread  of  his  being  near  about 
somewhere,  and  not  dead  at  all.  Amri 
Carr  came  out  and  took  Alfred  by  the 
hand.  He  had  heard  it  all  from  Uncle 
Dan. 

"  Alfred  Bannerman,"  said  he,  "hit's  a  re- 
demption! I'll  go  down  with  you  to  Somer- 
set to-morrow,  and  we'll  fix  the  sheriff.  Oh, 
ho  !" 

Mr.  Carr  blew  a  mighty  blast,  as  if  in  the 
act  of  clearing  away  all  obstructions  of  a 
legal  nature  from  his  son-in-law's  path ;  to 
which,  with  a  sort  of  shout,  he  added  another, 
as  if  he  would  blow  some  feeble  posse,  with 
habeas  corpus  attached,  like  the  tail  to  a  kite, 
into  the  remotest  departments  of  the  sky. 


Alfred's  Wife  235 

Her  mother  took  Lucinda  into  the  house 
and  kissed  her. 

"  Kiss  your  sister/'  she  said  to  the  children. 

They  did  so,  and  warmly  enough  ;  but  Lu- 
cinda was  too  tired  to  know  or  care. 

"  Let  her  learn  by  this/'  said  Amri  to  his 
wife,  and  indeed  to  Lucinda — "  let  her  learn 
by  this  that  a  hog  ain't  a  man,  and  contrairy- 
wise.  '  Live  and  learn  ' — that's  my  motto. 
Alfred  says  he  won't  take  her  back,  mother; 
he  says  she's  broken  his  heart.  I  kind  o' 
believe  she  has.  'Live  and  learn' — that's 
what  I  say.  She'll  know  better  next  time." 


VII 

Alfred  was  home  again  in  a  day  or  two. 
The  life  which  he  now  took  up  was  as  soli- 
tary as  it  could  well  be.  He  had  plenty  of 
time,  therefore,  to  think  and  recall.  Lucinda 
passed  to  and  fro  in  his  mind  continually, 
and  he  recalled  Hiram,  dead  and  alive,  not 


236  Alfred's  Wife 

seldom.  He  would  sit  over  his  fire  in  the 
cabin,  or  over  his  camp-fire — for,  now  that 
he  had  no  wife  or  child,  he  had  taken  up 
hunting  again,  and  spent  weeks  alone  in  the 
Big  Pines  —  and  there  recall  his  last  en- 
counter with  Hiram :  how  he  had  looked  at 
a  distance,  skipping  from  rock  to  rock ;  how 
he  had  appeared  at  the  moment  he  himself 
had  shot ;  how  his  face  and  wet  hair  looked 
after  death. 

He  saw  all  these  things  clearly,  and,  being 
much  alone,  necessarily  saw  them  often  ;  but 
they  affected  him  with  no  degree  of  remorse. 
He  had  even  no  regret  for  what  he  had 
done.  It  seemed  to  him  only  that  he  had 
accomplished  a  needful  act  —  that  he  had 
removed  a  nuisance.  It  gave  him  satisfac- 
tion when  he  thought  of  it  now,  exactly  as 
it  had  done  when  he  stood  over  Hiram's 
body  laid  on  the  rock,  and  said  it  was  right 
that  he  should  be  dead,  and  that  was  the 
truth. 

Towards  spring  of  that  year  it  was  rumored 


Alfred's  Wife  237 

that  Hirarn's  uncle  from  Case  County,  with 
his  two  grown-up  sons,  had  been  seen  about. 
They  had  been  so  prolific  of  protestations, 
and  so  loud  in  these,  against  any  one's  sup- 
posing that  they  had  come  for  retaliation, 
that  Captain  Crossby,  getting  wind  of  them 
and  their  words,  rode  directly  up  to  inform 
Alfred  that  they  were  probably  bent  on  ven- 
geance. Alfred  said  he  had  no  doubt  that 
with  time  they  would  think  better  of  it ;  and 
presently  the  three  disappeared  from  sight 
of  man  or  hearing.  They  had  descended 
upon  Hiram's  cabin,  and  taken  all  that  Amri 
Carr  had  left  there,  which  was  not  a  great 
deal.  The  cabin  was  deserted  now,  and 
Hiram's  uncle  and  his  two  sons  had  not  been 
heard  of  for  a  fortnight,  when  one  evening, 
as  Alfred  was  stroking  a  kitten  which  had 
been  left  to  starve  and  mew  most  piteously 
about  Hiram's  deserted  place,  and  which  he 
had  accordingly  claimed  and  taken  home,  he 
heard  a  sharp  rap  on  one  of  the  oak  slabs 
that  served  for  shingles  on  his  cabin  roof.  It 


238  Alfred's  Wife 

was  followed  by  a  report  at  no  great  dis- 
tance. Alfred  took  down  his  rifle,  and  put 
a  short  knife  in  his  belt.  He  sallied  out, 
1  and  when  in  a  minute's  time  the  same  thing 
happened  again,  the  flash  of  the  rifle  being 
apparent  to  him  on  the  crest  of  the  hill 
above,  he  promptly  fired  at  this  flash.  His 
shot  was  answered  by  two  in  return.  Then 
all  was  still,  and  there  were  no  more  shots 
fired  that  night.  But  about  a  week  later, 
this  time  after  midnight,  two%  more  balls 
came  tapping  upon  his  roof.  As  there  was 
no  third,  Alfred  could  make  no  likely  return  ; 
but  when,  the  very  next  night,  the  thing  oc- 
curred again,  and  a  ball  crashed  through  the 
roof,  sinking  itself  into  the  log  opposite,  Al- 
fred determined  that  Hiram's  uncle  was  try- 
ing to  scare  him  into  leaving  his  cabin  tem- 
porarily, when  he  and  his  sons  would  doubt- 
less gut  and  burn  it  in  his  absence.  He 
made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  disappoint 
them,  and  accordingly  passed  four  nights  in 
watch,  forty  paces,  as  near  as  he  could  judge, 


Alfred's  Wife  239 

from  the  spot  whence  the  shots  had  been 
fired  on  the  hilltop.  The  fifth  night,  towards 
morning,  he  heard  muffled  voices,  and  pres- 
ently saw  the  three  figures  plainly,  but  con- 
cluded not  to  shoot  at  once.  Two  of  the 
figures,  as  he  expected,  levelled  their  rifles 
and  fired  at  the  little  cabin  below.  Alfred 
could  have  killed  his  man,  but  he  felt,  as 
he  said  afterwards,  that  anybody  who  would 
play  such  a  trick  must  be  a  boy  or  foolish, 
and  he  didn't  like  to  chance  killing  a  boy 
or  a  fool.  He  did  fire,  aiming,  however,  at 
about  the  ankle  of  the  dimly  seen  man. 
There  was  a  howl,  and  a  sudden  scuffling 
flight.  "  Barked  him,"  thought  Alfred.  But 
he  was  not  content  with  so  much,  and  be- 
gan a  vigorous  pursuit,  which  lasted  until 
the  evening  of  the  day  then  about  to  dawn. 
Twice  during  this  day  he  sighted  his  three 
men,  and  was  twice  fired  upon,  answering  in 
kind  now,  but  at  great  distance,  through  a 
drizzling  rain  and  a  tangle  of  underbrush. 
As  he  was  himself  much  exhausted  at  the 


240  Alfred's  Wife 

close  of  the  day,  and  as  he  had  found  blood 
in  the  track  of  one  of  the  three  men,  he  con- 
cluded that  he  had  given  them  enough  to 
make  it  unlikely  that  they  would  worry 
him  again.  So  he  returned  home,  trying  to 
think  how  many  men  his  Case  County  ma- 
rauders could  have  supposed  were  hot  upon 
their  pursuit. 

When  Alfred  related  this  to  Uncle  Dan, 
the  old  man  was  perhaps  as  much  amused 
as  ever  in  his  life.  He  met  Mr.  Carr  in 
Mr.  Brown's  store  a  few  days  later,  Lu- 
cinda  and  her  mother  both  standing  by, 
and  seized  the  opportunity  to  repeat  the  en- 
tire tale,  not  without  embellishment  and  an 
added  member  or  so  to  the  Case  County 
crew. 

"Alfred  Bannerman's  tasted  blood,"  said 
he,  dryly,  "and  hit's  my  notion  he's  goin' 
to  be  a  terrible  dangerous  man — comes  the 
time  he  get  his  full  growth." 

Captain  Crossby  threw  his  -head  back, 
looked  out  at  old  Carr,  and  laughed  without 


Alfred's  Wife  241 

a  sound  for  about  a  minute.  He  knew  very 
well  that  Lucinda  had  thought  Alfred  too 
mild,  and  the  temptation  of  her  presence 
was  accordingly  too  great  for  him. 

Mr.  Carr  heard  the  tale  with  a  series  of 
explosive  breaths  and  exclamations. 

"Well,"  he  said,  at  the  conclusion,  realiz- 
ing very  clearly  that  the  story  was  aimed  at 
Lucinda,  "  people  gets  mistaken  in  people, 
and  people  ain't  always  what  people  thinks. 
Most  men  '11  fight  and  scratch  —  like  Mr. 
Brown  here  —  but  Alfred  he's  a  slaughterer  ! 
Why,  he's  a  danger  to  the  peace !  Chase  a 
whole  pack  o'  thieves  and  disturbers !  Bark 
their  shins!  And  shoot  at  'em  for  thirty 
miles !  In  the  night  at  that !  And  all  the 
time  to  look  as  mild  and  gentle  as  a  little 
ewe  lamb !" 

Mr.  Carr  burst  into  a  roaring  laugh,  which 
shook  him  in  all  his  limbs,  as  if  he  were  a 
tree  struck  suddenly  by  a  strong  wind.  He 
waved  his  arms,  and  ran  his  hands  through 
his  hair,  apparently  in  the  desire  to  get  all 


16 


242  Alfred's  Wife 

the  relief  he  could.  Captain  Crossby  re- 
sponded silently. 

"When  Alfred  bleats  he  signifies  blood," 
said  Mr.  Carr,  bringing  both  his  fists  down 
on  the  counter  to  give  exit  to  some  of  the 
volume  and  violence  of  his  mirth,  and  there- 
by causing  Mr.  Brown  to  start  and  emit  a 
feeble  exclamation. 

Lucinda  said  nothing,  but  remembered 
the  story,  and  took  care  to  hear  it  repeated. 
At  that  time  she  was  too  worn,  and  too  little 
herself,  to  see  clearly ;  but  later  she  began 
to  feel  that  she  had  mistaken  Alfred.  That 
he  was  "  mild,"  that  he  lacked  some  asperity 
of  nature,  some  commanding,  enforcing  qual- 
ity, at  least  towards  her,  was  plain  enough 
still;  or,  at  all  events,  that,  unlike  the  men 
she  was  accustomed  to,  he  chose  not  to  al- 
low himself  to  be  imperative  with  his  wife, 
and  gave  her  a  freedom  that  Lucinda  her- 
self felt  she  was  ill  able  to  bear.  All  this 
was  plain  to  her  now.  In  her  opinion,  no 
man  had  any  right  to  be  as  soft  and  yield- 


Alfred's  Wife  243 

ing  as  Alfred  had  been.  She  said  to  herself 
that  she  hated  him  for  it.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  was  no  coward ;  although  why  he 
had  not  killed  Hiram  at  once  she  felt  would 
be  a  riddle  to  her  forever.  But,  for  the  rest, 
Alfred  seemed  to  be  rather  unusually  ready 
and  successful  with  his  rifle,  and  not  to  know 
what  fear  was.  She  wished  he  had  shown 
her  that  side  of  his  character — in  time. 

The  following  spring  Alfred  came  down 
to  the  mill  to  help  Captain  Crossby  with  his 
harvesting,  and  remained  there  a  month  or 
so.  He  passed  Lucinda  more  than  once, 
but  the  girl,  with  her  head  carried  very  high 
and  her  eyes  in  another  direction,  appeared 
not  to  see  him.  She  hated  him  to  be  any- 
where near,  and  could  have  killed  him  when- 
ever he  passed  her.  Alfred  never  came  to 
Mr.  Carr's  cabin,  but  he  gave  the  old  man 
six  wild -cat  skins  for  the  "  new  one/*  all 
sewed  roughly  together  by  himself. 

The  day  before  he  left  Captain  Crossby's 
he  knocked  at  Mr.  Carr's  door.  Lucinda 


244  Alfred's  Wife 

happened  to  be  sitting  on  the  floor  inside, 
the  rest  of  the  household  being  absent.  She 
was  teaching  the  "  new  one  "  how  to  crawl. 
She  said  "  Come  in !"  blithely  enough ;  for 
hard  work,  the  "  new  one's"  pranks  and 
growth,  and  the  rough,  busy,  noisy,  laughing, 
and  joking  household  of  people  among  whom 
she  had  lived  had  put  the  color  in  her 
cheeks  again,  and  renewed  her  physically 
and  morally  in  the  good  course  of  time. 

"  Come  in  !"  she  cried  out. 

But  when  she  saw  the  visitor  she  started 
up  from  the  floor,  looking  to  Alfred  just  as 
she  used  to  in  the  days  when  he  first  knew 
her — rosy  and  fresh  and  proud,  except  per- 
haps for  something  softer  and  kinder  in  the 
expression  of  her  face. 

She  gazed  at  Alfred  now  without  a  word. 

"  If  I  may  come  in,"  said  Alfred.  He 
had  a  spray  of  blossoms  in  his  hand,  and 
tossed  it  to  the  "  new  one."  "  If  I'm  wel- 
come," he  said,  tentatively,  and  without  the 
usual  assured  quiet  of  his  demeanor. 


Alfred's  Wife  245 

"  You're  not  welcome/'  said  Lucinda,  ab- 
ruptly. The  color  rose  to  her  face.  Alfred 
noticed,  as  she  stood  there,  looking  very  an- 
gry and  breathing  fast,  that  her  hair  was  tied 
with  a  blue  ribbon  again. 

"That  is,"  she  added — "come  in;  no  one 
you  want  to  see  's  here — but  you  are  wel- 
come." 

Alfred  had  suddenly  lost  the  look  of  hope 
with  which  he  had  entered. 

"  I  am  certainly  right  sorry  if  I  am  much 
unwelcome." 

He  stood  before  her,  with  his  long  arms 
hanging  down,  and  looking  at  her  with  the 
serious,  innocent  eyes  that  made  her  cry  in 
her  sleep,  and  wake  crying  when  she  saw 
him  and  them  in  a  dream. 

Lucinda  felt  anger,  and  pity  for  herself, 
and  hate  of  Alfred,  and -despair,  and  some 
other  feeling,  vague  and  strong,  left  over 
from  her  former  life — she  hardly  knew  what 
to  call  it,  or  even  what  it  was — all  rising  and 
swelling  and  coming  heavily  upon  her,  and 


246  Alfred's  Wife 

carrying  her  off  her  feet,  like  a  succession  of 
waves :  only  to  her  they  seemed  to  come 
from  all  quarters,  and  from  underneath,  and 
to  clash  and  crash  violently  together.  She 
stood,  trying  to  control  herself. 

"  Luanda,"  said  Alfred,  evidently  also 
trying  to  get  the  better  of  some  emotion 
that  appeared  to  catch  him  in  the  voice — 
"  Lucinda,  I  want  you  to  come  and  live  with 
me  again." 

The  girl's  expression  suddenly  fell,  the 
color  left  her  cheeks,  a  look  almost  of 
fright  and  weakness  overcame  her,  chang- 
ing back  again  to  life  and  boldness  as  sud- 
denly. 

"  If  you  can  care  enough  to  make  you 
want  to  do  it,"  continued  Alfred,  speaking 
slowly.  "  I  am  very  poor  of  a  hand  at  for- 
giveness, and  I  wish  not  to  make  any  make- 
believes  of  forgiving  you  ;  for  what  you  did 
is  done,  and  hit  cost  a  life.  But  all  I  say 
now  is,  if  you  think  you  will  be  happier  than 
in  the  old  days — " 


Alfred's  Wife  247 

Lucinda  clapped  her  hands  together,  and 
seemed  almost  to  gasp  for  breath  as  she 
burst  in:  "Alfred  Bannerman,  unless  you 
can  care  for  me  I  won't  go — not  a  step !  I 
won't  have  your  pity !" 

"  I  give  you  none,"  said  Alfred,  bluntly. 

"  If  you  want  me,  knowing  what  I  am, 
what  I  was,  and  having  suffered  from  me — 
knowing  as  I  am  a  bad  girl,  and  was  false  to 
you,  and  a  wicked  devil — and  if  knowing  all 
that,  and  those,  you  can  care — why,  then, 
I'll  say  too  that  I  was  terrible  mistaken  in 
you,  and  that  you're  the  only  man — right, 
true  man — I  ever  met  up  to !  And  I  ain't 
regrettin'  nothing,  and  I  won't  make  no 
promise — but — but — " 

Lucinda  tossed  her  head  back  as  if  the 
words  stifled  her.  Her  hair  came  down 
and  fell  over  her  shoulders  in  a  mass,  and 
the  color  flared  into  her  face  and  down  her 
neck. 

"  Lucy,  I  want  you  ;  will  you  come  ?"  said 
Alfred. 


248  Alfred's  Wife 

He  moved  a  step  towards  her.  There  was 
some  word  on  her  tongue,  but  what  it  was 
he  never  knew,  for  she  seemed  to  struggle 
with  it  in  a  kind  of  death-agony  of  expres- 
sion, the  blood  flushing  her  more  and  more, 
and  her  entire  figure  trembling,  until  Alfred 
took  both  her  hands  in  his,  when  she  burst 
into  tears  and  sobs,  and  cried  as  if  she  never 
expected  to  have  an  opportunity  of  crying 
again. 

"  Lucy,"  said  Alfred,  "  will  you  come  and 
try?" — very  much  fearing  that  this  explosion 
of  grief  in  tears  meant  "No  "to  the  new 
hope  he  had  so  slowly  formed. 

"  'Ain't  I  said  I  would !"  cried  out  Lucin- 
da,  indignantly,  between  her  sobs. 

Not  many  days  after  the  "  new  one  "  was 
crawling  about  Alfred's  cabin,  mauling  the 
kitten  in  a  shocking  and  inhuman  manner, 
and  setting  up  unheard-of  yells  at  the  most 
distant  approach  of  hunger. 

"  I  couldn't  live  without  him  now,"  said 
Alfred;  "  and  I  do  hate  to  see  a  little  one 


Alfred's  Wife  249 

grow  up  wanting  its  true  fawther,  without 
some  kind  of  a  makeshift. " 

Luanda  loved  him  dearly  when  he  said 
that. 

"  I  do  hate  it  when  one  of  these  little 
ones  dies/'  continued  Alfred,  thinking  sadly 
of  his  own  baby.  "  Hit  don't  seem  right ; 
they're  born  with  such  a  heap  o'  trouble 
that  it  does  seem  they  ought  to  live  and 
be  a  happiness  to  themselves." 

Almost  every  morning,  dull  or  bright,  of 
the  spring  and  summer,  if  you  had  chanced 
to  pass  by  at  the  foot  of  Alfred  Banner- 
man's  hill,  you  would  have  heard  a  girl's 
voice  floating  down  from  the  cabin  where 
she  was  at  her  work,  where  she  had  come 
to  live  again,  happily  this  time,  with  "  the 
only  man  —  right,  true  man  —  she  had  ever 
met  up  to." 

THE   END 


THE  WORKS    OF 
WILLIAM    DEAN    HOWELLS 


IMPRESSIONS  AND  EXPERIENCES.  12rao,  Cloth,  Uncut 
Edges  and  Gilt  Top,  $1  50. 

MY  LITERARY   PASSIONS.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

STOPS  OF  VARIOUS  QUILLS.  Poems.  Illustrated  by 
HOWARD  PYLE.  4to,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  Uncut  Edges  and 
Gilt  Top,  $2  50. 

THE  DAY  OF  THEIR  WEDDING.  A  Story.  Illustrated 
by  T.  DE  THULSTRUP.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

A  TRAVELER  FROM  ALTRURIA.  A  Romance.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1  50 ;  Paper,  50  cents. 

THE  COAST  OF  BOHEMIA.  A  Novel.  Illustrated.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1  50. 

THE  WORLD  OF  CHANCE.  A  Novel.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50; 
Paper,  60  cents. 

THE  QUALITY  OF  MERCY.  A  Novel.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50 ; 
Paper,  75  cents. 

AN  IMPERATIVE  DUTY.  A  Novel.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00; 
Paper,  50  cents. 

A  HAZARD  OF  NEW  FORTUNES.  A  Novel.  Two  Vol- 
umes. 12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00  ;  Illustrated,  12mo,  Paper,  $1  00. 

A  PARTING  AND  A  MEETING.  Illustrated.  Square 
32mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  SHADOW  OF  A  DREAM.  A  Story.  12mo,  Cloth, 
$1  00 ;  Paper,  50  cents. 


TJic  Works  of  William  Dean  Howells 


ANNIE  KILBURN.  A  Novel.  12rao,  Cloth,  $1  50;  Paper, 
75  cents. 

APRIL  HOPES.  A  Novel.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50;  Paper,  75 
cents. 

CHRISTMAS  EVERY  DAY,  AND  OTHER  STORIES.  Illustrated. 
Post  8vo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

A  BOY'S  TOWN.  Described  for  HARPER'S  YOUNG  PEOPLE. 
Illustrated.  Post  8vo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

CRITICISM  AND  FICTION.  With  Portrait,  16rao,  Cloth, 
$1  00.  (In  the  Series  "  Harper's  American  Essayists.") 

MODERN  ITALIAN  POETS.  Essays  and  Versions.  With 
Portraits.  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

THE  MOUSE-TRAP,  AND  OTHER  FARCES.     Illustrated.     12mo, 

Cloth,  $1  00. 

FARCES :  A  LIKELY  STORY— THE  MOUSE-TRAP— FIVE  O'CLOCK 
TEA — EVENING  DRESS— THE  UNEXPECTED  GUESTS — A  LETTER 
OP  INTRODUCTION  —  THE  ALBANY  DEPOT  —  THE  GARROTERS. 
In  Uniform  Style :  Illustrated.  32mo,  Cloth,  50  cents  each. 
("Harper's  Black  and  White  Series.") 

A  LITTLE  SWISS  SOJOURN.  Illustrated.  32mo,  Cloth, 
50  cents.  ("Harper's  Black  and  White  Series.") 

MY  YEAR  IN  A  LOG  CABIN.  Illustrated.  32mo,  Cloth, 
50  cents.  ("Harper's  Black  and  White  Series.") 


PUBLISHED  BY  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  NEW  YORK. 

&JT  The  above  works  are  for  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  will  be  mailed  by 

the  publishers,  postage  prepaid,  on  receipt  of  the  vrice. 


